The Owls and the Orchard(2005)

Shutter Shooter(es)

Etienne-Jules Marey, a French inventor who turned a gun into a camera. A hand-drawn hunter whose weapon, instead of firing ammunition, shoots photographs. Carlos, a Mexican wildlife photographer who used to be a real life hunter until he chose to get rid of all his guns. All come together in this poetic yet approachable animated documentary short film.

The Himalayas(en)

The highest mountain range in the world, the Himalayan range is far reaching, spanning thousands of miles, and holds within it an exceptionally diverse ecology. Coniferous and subtropical forests, wetlands, and montane grasslands are as much a part of this world as the inhospitable, frozen mountaintops that tower above. The word Himalaya is Sanskrit for abode of snow, fitting for a stretch of land that houses the world’s largest non polar ice masses. Extensive glacial networks feed Asia's major rivers including the Ganges, Indus, and Brahmaputra. More than a billion people rely on these glacier-fed water sources for drinking water and agriculture. The Himalayas are not only a remarkable expanse of natural beauty. They're also crucial for our survival.

The Mating Game(en)

David Attenborough narrates the charming and fascinating story of some real-life animal romantics. There are show-offs and singers, dancers and fighters, stories of undercover affairs and heartwarming devotion. These include a male polar bear that plays hard to get, a lemur whose odour bags him a mate and a lizard who is tender and faithful to the very end. It reveals that animals can be loving, complex, funny and inventive - it is all part of the mating game.

Into the Grand Canyon(en)

Two journalists traverse the Grand Canyon by foot, hoping this 750-mile walk will help them better understand one of America's most revered landscapes and the threats poised to alter it forever.

Abenteuer Karibik(de)

Where The Butterflies Go(en)

In a pathetic attempt to host his own children’s nature show, a failing filmmaker travels 3,000 miles asking North Americans how to save the endangered monarch butterfly, and ourselves, from extinction.

La Vie sauvage des Carpates(en)

Don't(en)

The lyric passage of a Monarch butterfly, beginning with its birth, through its delicate metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly and on its journey from country to city. From the first frame, the audience experiences the tension of this perilous flight as numerous adversaries, threaten the butterfly's freedom. A lively sound track, with music composed by Frederic Chopin, allows us to live for a few moments in this fleeting world.

The End of the Game(xx)

An intimate view of the panorama of African wildlife, giving a sense of what it is really like to be there, and in a dramatic climax makes a poignant plea for conservation. Filmed in Zaire, Kenya and Tanzania, the film takes the viewer from deep inside an anthill, to the majestic giraffes suckling their young. African storms, dung beetle ritual dances, duels for supremacy, feeding time, and playtime all end as the animals disappear one by one while the sound of a rifle shatters the existing magic of life. Winner of the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject, 1976.

Tiger on the Rocks(en)

The Tasmanian Tiger twists and turns depending on how it's seen. Sheep-killing beast or tragic victim of human induced extinction. Ancient painting on a rock or vivid ancestor spirit. Lost forever, or a timely reminder to respect the connection between human and animal, culture, nature and country. In stunning landscapes across Australia where Thylacines once roamed, people from wide-ranging traditions share their experiences: First Nations artists, rangers and custodians; biologists, bone hunters and archaeologists. Multiple insights combine to throw light on Australia's most wanted animal.

The Sanctuary: Survival Stories of the Alps(fr)

A dive inside a wild land where nature hides some of her greatest secrets: The Alps. Steep slopes, wind swept cutting edge rocks. An air desperately lacking of oxygen. A biting cold. How do living beings adapt to those extreme conditions?

Det var en gång en skog...(sv)

On January 8, 2005, the storm Gudrun pulled over southern Sweden and large parts of the Småland forest blew down. How do you cope when your food disappears overnight? Anders and Lisbeth Ericsson, who run a smaller farm, were hit hard by the storm. 70% of their 250 ha were blown down. This put them in a difficult economic and emotional crisis. They realize that it is important to find new solutions in order to live on now that the conditions have changed so completely. Johan Forsman and his father Jan have a large farm with 1500 ha of forest. For them, it is not just a financial loss, the extensive work to take care of the broken forest feels endless. It is difficult to get enough people to work. Some of the assistance is taken from other parts of the world, including Finnish forest workers. The problem is that the Finns only speak Finnish, and a little Russian…

Animal Doctors(fr)

Only twenty-five years ago, the first evidence of self-medicating behaviour among animals was reported among chimpanzees. On the basis of this pioneering research, led by the American Michael Huffman, a new science was founded: "zoopharmacognosy", or the study of animal pharmacopeia. Animals are apparently able to treat themselves actively, to detect natural substances that can provide a remedy for health problems, or to prevent them. The primatologist Michael Huffman explains how he discovered that chimpanzees can heal their diseases with medicinal plants from their environment. The scientist then comments on other very surprising examples: Birds that disinfect their nests by filling them with aromatic plants with repellent properties, a rodent that covers its coat with toxic sap as a poisonous defence against predators and elephants that place mud plasters on their injuries. Some therapeutic behaviours may even be transmitted socially among certain species.

An Inconvenient Truth(en)

A documentary on Al Gore's campaign to make the issue of global warming a recognized problem worldwide.

The Mirror(it)

Documentary on the village of Viganella, in the Piedmont Alps, and on its mirror that reflects the sunlight on the hamlet, which otherwise would not reach the valley.

Attenborough's Life That Glows(en)

Luminous beings, creatures with their own internal light, enchant and astonish us. Anyone who has seen a firefly or a glow-worm cannot help but fall under their spell. The sea at night sparkles as millions of luminous plankton reveal the shapes of dolphins in a truly magical light show. Join Sir David Attenborough and a team of the world's leading scientists and deep sea explorers on a quest to reveal the secrets of living lights.

Alaskan Summer(en)

In the ice-gripped environment of Alaska's Admiralty Island, summer offers the briefest of respites. Year-round residents such as bears and seals turn to the salmon-filled waterways for sustenance. Meanwhile, migrants descend in droves, from humpback whales to over 140 million seabirds--almost half the birds in the Northern Hemisphere.

The ABCs of the Serengeti(de)

ABC of the Serengeti takes us on a journey through the most famous park in Africa. It captivates the viewer with spectacular footage, breathtaking landscapes and rousing music. It's an intimate look at different life and ways of life in the Serengeti. Experience the quirks of the individual animals and their behavior in the herd as together they make up life in the Serengeti.

The Lost City(en)

In the Aysén region dwell a population of 90000 isolated souls sharing the harsh landscapes of an area about the size of England. Here where beauty seems to be on first-name terms with fear and danger,in a place where the immensity of nature can never be dominated, the setting hesitates, along the expanses, between sparkling colours and the black and white of the snow and the water. The day-to-day images intermingle with a story of mythological aspect; that of the timeless quest for the Lost City of the Caesars, a city of gold built 500 years ago by the conquerors.

The Enchanted Forest of the Pygmy Hippopotamus(en)

One of the most mysterious animals to inhabit the jungle is the pygmy hippopotamus - up to 300 kg in weight, just 2 meters long, and 80 cm tall, and a true loner. Since its discovery in 1844, generations of researchers have attempted to study it in the wild - but in vain. Although it proved possible to catch a few specimens for zoos, no one ever got to see them before they were already inside the trap. They eluded the gaze of the researchers like phantoms under the protection of the enchanted forest. These are the first ever pictures of pygmy hippopotami in their natural surroundings - the rain forest of West Africa. Set amid stories about their habitat, the film allows a first impression of this timid creature's life. While their ten-times heavier relatives are loud and gregarious and live in open stretches of water, the pygmy hippopotamus moves furtively through the thick undergrowth.