Emptying the Skies (2013)
78 min
If you want to impress your dining companions in Cyprus, it's not caviar that you order, but ambelopoulia: a tiny songbird. But as this gripping doc reveals, the cost to bring such delicacies to the table is enormous. Bestselling novelist Jonathan Franzen takes a break from the world of fiction to guide us through an all too horrifying reality: tens of millions of protected migratory songbirds are illegally killed every year. Franzen, a longtime bird lover, accompanies young staffers of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter on their expeditions. With police enforcement in Southern Europe practically non-existent, they risk their lives to rescue trapped birds, and confront hostile poachers. It's a topic that proves a cultural flashpoint -- the Cypriot landowners cannot understand why a bunch of Italians can tell them what to do on their land.
- Release date
- April 22, 2015
- Country of origin
- Not yet available
Trailer
Cast
- Peter Berthold as Self
- Sergio Coen Tanugi as Self
- David Conlin as Self
- Jonathan Franzen as Self
- Martin Hellicar as Self
- Alex Heyd as Self
- Axel Hirschfeld as Self
- Piero Liberati as Self
- Andrea Rutigliano as Self
Crew
- Douglas Kass · Director
- Douglas Kass · Writer
- Roger Kass · Producer
- Laurie Anderson · Composer
- Marty Beller · Composer
- Douglas Kass · Cinematographer
- Michael Tucker · Cinematographer
- Michael Levine · Editor