Bird People (Vogelmenschen)

2005 FESTIVAL
92 min.
An unusual and engaging peek behind the scenes of Winged Migration, the successful 2001 film by Jacques Perrin. Filmmaker Eduard Erne gives us a look at twenty “bird people”;—biologists, dropouts and adventurers—who devoted four years of their lives to raising the migratory birds that are followed during migration in Winged Migration. The group members explain how they were cut off from the outside world for yearsand developed a close bond with the starring geese, swans, and pelicans in Normandy, as they worked on their motorized, camera-equipped glider. “I’ve cured myself of all human instincts like shame, dishonesty and nervousness,”; one of the caretakers says. A touching testament to the adaptability of animals — and their human “parents” too.