Islands of the Vampire Birds(1999)

Sherwood Park(en)

Reclaiming what was once stolen from him, a man journeys back to the place of his childhood nearly 80 years after his world came crashing down.

Hummingbirds: Jewelled Messengers(en)

David Attenborough narrates this close up look at these tiny pollinators captured in flight as never before. Acrobats of the air - flying jewels - iridescent partners of countless plants: hummingbirds are amongst the most remarkable creatures on our planet.

Modern Goose(en)

By inviting viewers to take a closer look at the birds that serve as one of this country’s hardiest symbols, Karsten Wall’s stunning documentary invites a deeper consideration of the conditions we humans have created for them.

Trinado - Um Torneio de Cantos(pt)

Bird breeders talk about their great passion, bird singing competitions.

Out with the Birds(en)

It is a documentary about mostly inner-city birds. It is meant to examine their lives in a more metropolitan context as they become increasingly tangled in our everyday lives.

Mes voisins sauvages(fr)

You don't have to travel to faraway countries to observe wildlife, because the fauna of the big city also provides surprises every day. Contrary to expectations, many bird, mammal and insect species have adapted to the concrete jungle. They have become experts of the urban space. “My Wild Neighbors” takes a poetic look at the lives of animals in the city.

Ungezähmt - Im Fluss des Lebens(de)

We get to know a few inhabitants of central European rivers.

Dancing with the Birds(en)

Some of the world's most majestic birds display delightfully captivating mating rituals, from flashy dancing to flaunting their colorful feathers.

Birds of America(fr)

In the first half of the 19th century, the French ornithologist Jean-Jacques Audubon travelled to America to depict birdlife along the Mississippi River. Audubon was also a gifted painter. His life’s work in the form of the classic book ‘Birds of America’ is an invaluable documentation of both extinct species and an entire world of imagination. During the same period, early industrialisation and the expulsion of indigenous peoples was in full swing. The gorgeous film traces Audubon’s path around the South today. The displaced people’s descendants welcome us and retell history, while the deserted vistas of heavy industry stretch across the horizon. The magnificent, broad images in Jacques Loeuille’s atmospheric, modern adventure reminds us at the same time how little - and yet how much - is left of the nature that Audubon travelled around in. His paintings of the colourful birdlife of the South still belong to the most beautiful things you can imagine.

Seevögel von Galapagos - Bewegungsweisen als Ernährungsstrategie(de)

The flight and feeding customs of the most important sea bird species of the Galapagos Islands are described. Some characteristic body and wing measurements are used to describe the flight of these species. The species which are able to forage furthest out at sea and deepest in the water are the most successfull on the Galapagos Islands, measured by their abundance. The least abundant bird is the lava-gull, a shore bird and surface-feeder.

On Closer Inspection(en)

"Without leaving his own garden, a man may know the world" - an abstract study of the wildlife found in every garden.

Ura, sauver l'oiseau sacré des australes(fr)

The Land of Jacques Cartier(fr)

Did Cartier dream of making a country from this land of a million birds? In his records of his exploration he certainly marvelled at seeing the great auks that have since disappeared from Isle aux Ouaiseaulx, the razor-bills and gannets that are gone from Blanc-Sablon, and the kittiwakes from Anticosti, all the winged creatures of all the islands which he described as being "as full of birds as a meadow is of grass". And that's not even counting the countless snow geese.

Hermann Heinzel Ornithologist(fr)

Portrait of Hermann Heinzel.

All That Breathes(en)

Against the darkening backdrop of New Delhi's apocalyptic air and escalating violence, two brothers devote their lives to protecting one casualty of the turbulent times: the bird known as the black kite.

Along Newfoundland's Shores(en)

This short documentary includes three vignettes about life off the coast of Newfoundland. In Island of Birds, we visit Green Island, a sea bird sanctuary where puffins frolic. In Caplin Harvest, little silvery fish called caplin spawn by washing ashore along the waves, making an easy catch for fishermen. In Outports on the Move, off-shore houses are pried loose from their foundation and floated to the Newfoundland mainland, where schools, hospitals, stores and services are available to the community.

In the Wake of the Flood(en)

On the eve of her 70th birthday, Canadian writer Margaret Atwood set out on an international tour criss-crossing the British Isles and North America to celebrate the publication of her new dystopian novel, The Year of the Flood. Rather than mount a traditional tour to promote a book's publication, Atwood conceived and executed something far more ambitious and revelatory--a theatrical version of her novel. Along the way she reinvented what a book tour could (and maybe should) be. But Atwood wasn't selling books as much as advocating an idea: how humanity must respond to the consequences of an environmentally compromised planet before her work of speculative fiction transforms into prophesy.

Swans: Mystery of the Missing(en)

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.

Cats, Birds and Fishes(en)

Some champion exhibits from the National Cat Club Show and the Combined Bird and Aquaria Show, described by W. Cox-Ife, F. Hopkins, and L.C. Mandeville.

To Teach a Bird to Fly(en)

This experimental nature documentary by Minna Rainio and Mark Roberts depicts climate change and the wave of extinction from the point of view of our near future. Actually, it depicts the age we live in now, or rather its fateful consequences.