The Big Year
Three fanatical bird-watchers spend an entire year competing to spot the highest number of species as El Nino sends an extraordinary variety of rare breeds flying up into the U.S., but they quickly discover that there are more important things than coming out on top of the competition.
Watching People Watching Birds
Highly topical, serious and humorous, this film observes people who are passionately devoted to bird watching. Through their eyes and ears, we discover the world of the birds that becomes a metaphor for the state of the world.
A Birder's Guide to Everything
David Portnoy, a 15-year-old birding fanatic, thinks that he's made the discovery of a lifetime. So, on the eve of his father's remarriage, he escapes on an epic road trip with his best friends to solidify their place in birding history.
SHOOTER
A short audiovisual portrait of Giulio Nick Piacentini, a young sound engineer with a special interest in duck photography. Realized for the Filmmaking Laboratory at DAMS RomaTre with Antonietta De Lillo.
Limp Wing
Sylvie, a young birdwatcher with a disability, undergoes corrective surgery. As the anaesthetic takes hold, she is drawn into a world of feather, bone and blood.
Where the Stone Dropped
Created in the Victorian era to widen the mouth of the River Tees for shipping, South Gare is a man-made peninsula extending four kilometres into the cold North Sea. Today, the industry it was built for has gone, but the Gare remains as a haven for all sorts of unexpected communities - kite-surfers, photographers, bird-watchers, scuba-divers and the people who simply appreciate its strange, lonely beauty.
Rare Birds
A down-and-out restaurateur and his neighbor hatch a plan to lure bird watchers to their small Newfoundland town and increase tourism by announcing the presence of a rare duck.
Urubú
Tomás, a birdwatcher and photographer, tries to give his career a push by taking an impossible photograph: an albino bird never seen outside captivity. To this end, he drags his wife and daughter to the Amazonian forest.
Groenkijkers
Planet of the Birds
From the North Pole to remote islands, birds can live almost anywhere. How do these resilient animals thrive in such different environments? They have become hardy and versatile through their bodies, feathers, movements, and songs. In this global birding tour, we learn about these nomads of the sky.
The Great Bird Race
12-year-old Victor and his father attend the Annual Ornithology Competition, where Victor wants to prove his worth by spotting the rarest bird and win 1st prize – for his father's sake. Victor's plan seems realistic, since last year's winner, Daniel, has a broken leg and is unable to attend. But Daniel shows up unexpectedly and now the match intensifies.
Colored Birds
Dad goes birdwatching. His son then decides to follow and film him.
Birders
Bird watchers on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border share their enthusiasm for protecting and preserving some of the world's most beautiful species.
Swans: Mystery of the Missing
With narration from Paul McGann, this ground-breaking film sets out to solve one of nature's mysterious phenomena: the Bewick swan's dramatic decline. A pioneering group of scientists and conservationists sets out to discover why we have lost nearly half the Bewick population in the last twenty years. Every year, these majestic birds make one of the world's toughest migrations, across perilous land, sea and skies. Somewhere between the harsh Tundra landscape and the south of England lies the key to their disappearance. We join extreme sportswoman Sacha Dench and award-winning wildlife cameraman Benjamin Sadd, as they follow the swans over 7,000 km, on a journey that pushes both humans and swans to the limits of their endurance. Cutting-edge tracking techonology and innovative filming techniques give privileged insight into the birds' hidden world, providing stunning aerial views and the personal stories of swans, Charlotte, Daisy-Clarke and Leho.
Tawny Pipit
Jimmy Bancroft, a fighter pilot, who is recovering from injuries sustained during the Battle of Britain, and Hazel Court, a nurse, come across a pair of rare birds nestling in a field. After a run in with the army, and a couple of thieves, they, with the cooperation of the village people and the Ornithology Society, help the eggs to hatch. A wonderful look at life in a small village, during World War II.
Woodpecker
Fanatical birdwatchers have descended upon a small town in the Arkansas bayou in hopes of finding the celebrated Ivory Billed Woodpecker. Declared extinct in the 1940’s, the bird has apparently been spotted by numerous experts. Enter amateur birder and poet Johnny Neander, who has convinced his taciturn sidekick that he will be the one to find the elusive woodpecker. The ensuing chaos divides the small town between believers and non-believers, rabid environmentalists and opportunistic entrepreneurs. Much like the bird itself, Woodpecker explores the intersection of fact and fiction, manipulating our notions of documentary and narrative techniques within a tragic comedy about hope, perception, and some very very strange birds.
The Winged Detectives
"The Winged Detectives" is a queer coming-of-age short film, which follows Reagan and her friends as they prepare for the annual bird-watching competition. Tensions quickly rise for Reagan with the introduction of potential new friends and the absence of a special team member.
No Man Is An Island
The Bee-Eaters
Peter is a socially awkward young man, whose only responsibility is to walk his nine-year-old neighbour home from school - over the heaths and green hills of rural England. As he makes a new friend in an ageing birdwatcher, Peter finds himself ensnared in a knot he cannot untangle.
Arjan's Big Year
In 2016, Dutch birdwatcher Arjan Dwarshuis traveled the world to spot as many birds as possible in the span of one year, with the goal to break the big year world record (6042 species, set by Noah Strycker in 2015).