Industry Screening: PUTNUBIEDĒKĻI

"Usually, my films are slow. And I really enjoy making slow films. But with SCARECROWS, there will be a slight difference: compared to my other films, this film will be a poetry-based action film," said renowned Latvian documentary film-maker Laila Pakalnina when she began shooting her latest film. Pakalnina mixes her contemplative observations of the bird controllers' everyday lives with hectic scenes and subtle irony: when a hare has to quickly be removed from the runway between take-offs it is skilfully chased away by the sound of a dog barking, transmitted via a car's loudspeaker; when Latvia's smallest bird is huddled up at the edge of the airport building; when the crew meets for a cigarette break in the designated "smoking area" in the middle of the airfield; when a brief, nervous conversation comes over the walkie-talkie since a flock of birds is flying too close to the landing planes. The result is an atmospherically dense portrait of a profession most people were previously unaware of, yet without which safe air travel would be impossible. And of a biotope, one hermetically sealed off, that protects the prey animals that have settled here from their natural predators. An unusual look behind the scenes.

Text: Bernd Buder

Sun 09.11. I 10:30 I OBENKINO I original version with English subtitles
Industry Screening