Winged Migration
While practically everyone is aware of the fact that birds fly south for the winter, and return home in the spring, few are aware of just how arduous the journey can be. Jacques Perrin, a noted actor and film producer in his native France, decided to document this process, using flocks of birds who had been trained to ignore the distractions of his camera crew, and employing a variety of state-of-the-art technology to capture as unobtrusively as possible the flight paths of different birds from around the globe. The result was Winged Migration, a visually dazzling documentary that records the flight of dozens of different birds as they follow their navigational instincts and make the taxing journey to more temperate climates in the fall, all chronicled without the use of narration. The first directorial effort for Perrin, Winged Migration received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary. more..
Director: Jacques Cluzaud
Stays in the mind, changing the way we look at the world.
It's not the enormous undertaking that impresses so much as the sheer ecstasy of flight and the ability of Perrin's team to catch it.
A magnificent documentary that flies us along with migratory birds on their intercontinental travels, it's the polar opposite -- North Pole, South Pole and all latitudes in between -- of modern feature films that rely on special effects.
Mysteries still surround many aspects of bird migration. This film unravels exactly none of them. Rather, in some of the most remarkable footage you'll ever see, the film lets you look over the shoulders of migrating birds.
The result is a movie miracle; it soars.
Best Documentary, Features
Academy Awards (2003)
Best Cinematography
Boston Society of Film Critics Awards (2003)
Best Cinematography
Chicago Film Critics Association Awards (2004)
Best Cinematography
Chlotrudis Awards (2004)
Best Editing (Meilleur montage)
César Awards, France (2002)
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