Mammoths: Giants of the Ice Age

Éloge des animaux lents

Sundance-and-Emmy-Award-winning filmmaker Judy Irving (with her first film since the widely acclaimed and loved “The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill”) follows a wayward California brown pelican from her “arrest” on the Golden Gate Bridge into care at a wildlife rehabilitation facility, and from there explores pelicans’ nesting grounds, Pacific coast migration, and survival challenges of these ancient birds, sometimes referred to as the flying dinosaurs. The film is about wildness, and asks the following questions: how close can we get to a wild animal without taming or harming it? Why do we need wildness in our lives, and how can we protect it? PELICAN DREAMS, stars “Gigi” (for Golden Gate) and Morro (a backyard pelican with an injured wing).

Snakes - Vorsicht: Schlangen

A journey in the most spectacular wildlife sanctuary on Earth. Join two young Maasai warriors and discover the breathtaking diversity of the region's natural fauna, including the Big Five - lions, elephants, Cape buffalo, leopards and black rhinos - as well as giraffe, hippos, cheetahs, and many more.

Right on the middle of the Indian Ocean, in the Seychelles archipelago, there still exists an island where the beaches are not inhabited by men but by birds : Cousin island. More than 250 000 birds live there, among giant tortoises and strange lizards.

Arne Sucksdorff’s short documentary observes gulls raiding nests and stealing eggs with ruthless persistence. Though presented as pure nature study, the film was widely read as an allegory of Nazism—a symbolic parable of predation and violence during wartime. Sucksdorff himself denied such intent, but remarked that “a film that is not open to interpretation is a dead film.”

A ten-minute study of wild animal life in a Swedish forest; stoat, fox, hare, and owl, who stalk and savage one another, are photographed with extraordinary vividness and intimacy. It is perhaps the most striking of Sucksdorff's animal studies, in spite of an abrupt introduction and ending.

Born in Indonesia to Victor Raoul Baron von Lawick and Isabella Sophia Baroness van Ittersum, he developed an early love for animals. He determined that film would be his medium to capture the stunning images of the Serengeti for all animal lovers. Animal researcher Jane Goodall was his wife and collaborator for many years. They wrote and produced many films together. Hugo van Lawick lived and worked on the African plains for more than thirty years. Join van Lawick on his many small and large adventures through the Serengeti, where animals play the leading role. Van Lawick received eight Emmys and numerous other awards for his extraordinary films.

Scientists take on the project of rebuilding the great American plains. Conservationists must reintroduce populations of iconic American species, some on the brink of extinction.

Two hundred years after Charles Darwin set foot on the shores of the Galápagos Islands, David Attenborough travels to this wild and mysterious archipelago. Amongst the flora and fauna of these enchanted volcanic islands, Darwin formulated his groundbreaking theories on evolution. Journey with Attenborough to explore how life on the islands has continued to evolve in biological isolation, and how the ever-changing volcanic landscape has given birth to species and sub-species that exist nowhere else in the world. Encompassing treacherous journeys, life-forms that forge unlikely companionships, and survival against all odds, Galápagos tells the story of an evolutionary melting pot in which anything and everything is possible.

Sir David Attenborough takes us on a journey through the weird and wonderful world of frogs, shedding new light on these charismatic, colorful and frequently bizarre little animals through first-hand stories, the latest science, and cutting-edge technology. Frogs from around the world are used to demonstrate the wide variety of frog anatomy, appearance and behavior. Their amazing adaptations and survival techniques have made them the most successful of all amphibians.

Pilot whales are one of the least known of all small whales, and in spite of their name they are one of the largest species of dolphins. Pity the Pilot Whales takes us on an ocean journey, revealing many facets of pilot whale lore that few knew anything about. Why do these highly-intelligent marine mammals strand by the hundreds in certain regions of their known habitat? How do they communicate with one another? How do they find food in the deep dark ocean realm. This film is also a window on how two modern island nations treat these animals, and a statement on humanity and ethics.

From PBS - The fascinating story of beavers in North America - their history, their near extinction, and their current comeback, as a growing number of scientists, conservationists and grass-roots environmentalists have come to regard beavers as overlooked tools when it comes to reversing the disastrous effects of global warming and world-wide water shortages. Once valued for their fur or hunted as pests, these industrious rodents are seen in a new light through the eyes of this novel assembly of beaver enthusiasts and "employers" who reveal the ways in which the presence of beavers can transform and revive landscapes. Using their skills as natural builders and brilliant hydro-engineers, beavers are being recruited to accomplish everything from re-establishing water sources in bone-dry deserts to supporting whole communities of wildlife drawn to the revitalizing aquatic ecosystems their ponds provide.

Peer through the lenses of some of the world's most celebrated nature and wildlife photographers and descend into the Amiga River Basin, the largest rain forest on earth. Pulsing through the center of these pristine tropics is the Rio Negro, also known as the Golden River, containing the purest water on the planet as well as a spectacular array of aquatic life. Narrator Grant Goodeve lets you in on some of its most amazing secrets.

After his mother is injured in a car crash, baby koala Yindi is raised by humans. Yindi later reunites with his mother, and the two of them are released into the wild, where they adapt to their new surroundings and try to survive a brutal bushfire. Filmed on location in Eastern Australia, this entertaining documentary highlights the many difficulties koalas face and the special ways humans can work to help them.

Documentary from Tim Liversedge about lions in the Kalahari desert

Humpback Whales takes audiences to Alaska, Hawaii and the Kingdom of Tonga for a close-up look at how these whales communicate, sing, feed, play and take care of their young. Humpbacks were nearly driven to extinction 50 years ago, but today are making a steady recovery. Join a team of researchers as they explore what makes humpbacks the most acrobatic of all whales, why only the males sing, and why these intelligent 50-foot, 48-ton animals migrate more than 6,000 miles round-trip every year.

A subtle account of the chimpanzees' behaviour in Burgers Dierenpark in Arnhem, on the occasion of the publication of the book Chimpansee Politiek by ethologist Dr. Frans de Waal. A unique experiment shows us how complex the social strategies in the community of this fascinating anthropoid ape are. Haanstra managed to capture almost all aspects of chimpanzee behaviour: display of skill, teasing and pestering, grooming, resting, playing, motherly behaviour, submission, sex and violence. Eventually, the film was also screened to the apes.

Surrounded by war-torn nations, the wilds of Gabon may be the last best hope for many of Africa's species.

The secret life of hippos is revealed in this award-winning documentary, which follows divers into the waters of Tanzania's National Reserve. For the first time, cameras capture on film the astonishing underwater habits of these surprising creatures. A rare look at an essential part of hippo life, filmmakers Craig Huxley and Jean-Christophe Jeauffre's captivating documentary earned the Jules Verne Adventure Film Festival Audience Award.