Watching People Watching Birds

Bird populations and species diversity are declining dramatically around the globe. At the same time, more and more people are discovering the world of birds: each has their own distinct story that turned them into birdwatchers.

Looking through binoculars is also a search for something primordial, unique, and true. Almost magically, this search seems to transfer to the audience, as though stepping out of the cinema with heightened senses into another world. Our film turns the gaze from birds back toward the people whose love of birds and dedication to nature inspire us. Among them is world-renowned author Jonathan Franzen, who observes: "One reason wild birds matter (...) is that they are our last, best connection to a natural world that is otherwise receding."

Environmentally pressing, serious, yet also humorous, the film uses cinematic visuals and rich soundscapes to sketch a portrait of a society in deep crisis and upheaval. It becomes a tale of doubt and hope, life and death, persistence and disappearance—with birds becoming an exhilarating, almost eerie metaphor for the state of our world.