Link with the Lynx (2010)

With large-tufted ears, a short tail and a trusting look, one could almost believe that lynxes are just big cats. In their hearts, however, they are wild and untamed. They are the tigers of Europe. This is the story of a hard-earned friendship. On the one side is Miloš Majda, a quiet, nature loving ranger at the Malá Fatra National Park in Slovakia. On the other side are two small lynxes, fresh from the zoo. With Milos’ help, it’s hoped the lynxes will return to the home of their ancestors in the forests of Malá Fatra in the heart of Slovakia.

For two years Miloš Majda and wildlife filmmaker Tomáš Hulík followed the journey of the lynx siblings from their warm nursery inside a cabin into the wilderness.

Written by Harald Pokieser, Directed by Birgit Peters, Tomáš Hulík, Photography and sound recording: Tomáš Hulík, Miloš Majda, Edited by Harald Nestl, Music composed by Andy Baum, Peter Machajdík, Dubbing mixer: Stefan K. Fiedler, Colorist: Christian Vollenhofer, Production managers: Thomas Feldkircher, Toni Nemeth.
A production of ORF, produced by Cosmos Factory and ArtPoint, supported by Vienna Film Fund, Austrian Television Fund and Slovak Audiovisual Fund (45:59 minutes)

Return of the Bald Ibis (2007)

In 2003 a group of zoologists ventured out to indulge into a truly crazy adventure. Their ambition: to show a flock of bald ibises, birds that have been pushed over the brink by hunting and habitat destruction and only survived in zoos, how to fly to their winter quarters on their original seasonal migration routes. They accompanied the animals with lightweight airplanes from Austria to Italy – a chaotic event full of mishaps and some successes.

But now it appears as though their dreams are about to come true: the comeback of a bird that went extinct in Europe in the Middle Ages. Two bald ibises managed to fly back to Austria without guidance. Now, for the fifth time, human foster parents – 16 people from 4 nations – will once again lead the way for young ibises in completely novel paraplanes covering a distance of 900 kilometers within three weeks. This documentary takes you on a thrilling and humorous adventure introducing us to a very special family consisting of birds and humans.

Written and directed by Manfred Christ, Photography: Klaus Achter, Sound recording: Hermann Winklhofer, Additional Photography: Josef Neuper, Birgit Kruschwitz, Irmin Kerck, Edited by Adam Wallisch, Colorist: Christian Vollenhofer, Tom Varga, Music by Andy Baum, Narrated by Howard Nightingall, Dubbing mixer: Andreas Wukics, Polio Brezina, Costume designer: Andrea Hammer, Make up: Sabine Ehm, Technical assistance: Martin Stoni, Valentin Platzgummer, Otto Oberleithner, Graphic designer: Christine Puchner, Jörg Achatz, Location management: Brigitte Recher, Production manager: Toni Nemeth. A co-production of ORF and Bayerischer Rundfunk, in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Ministry of Education, Arts and Culture, produced by Cosmos Factory. (50:00 minutes)

The Tiger and the Monk (2006)

Wat Pa Luangta Bua is a monastery of meditation, situated far away from any civilization, about 200 kilometers west of Bangkok, and here, silence, peace and harmony reign. Every afternoon, a daily ritual is observed – nonchalant Buddhist monks take their tigers out on a leash for a walk.

They dote upon their tigers, feed them and celebrate them as their most sacred animal. The monks treat grown-up animals with reverence and respect although they cuddle and play with the cubs.

The tigers were once the «aristocrats» of the jungle of South-east Asia but today, this undisputed ruler of the animal kingdom is one of the most endangered species in the world. Three of the eight subspecies are already extinct. A fate that could also overcome the others. The film portrays the harmonious relationship between predators and humans without disregarding the monk’s maxim that “a tiger will always be a tiger, even if it feeds from the hand”.

Written and directed by Harald Pokieser, Photography: Harald Mittermüller, Film editor: Adam Wallisch, Music composed by Andy Baum, Stephan Maass, Sound recording: Hermann Winklhofer, Christian Stolz, Additional photography: Manfred Christ, Steadicam operator: Rob Van Gelder, Narrated by Howard Nightingall, Dubbing mixer: Stefan K. Fiedler, Foley artist: Karl Königsberger, Colorist: Tom Varga, Graphic design and compositing: Christine Puchner, Jörg Achatz, Location manager: Pattama Chutimant, Production manager: Toni Nemeth. Produced by Cosmos Factory for ORF in co-production with Thirteen/WNET New York, BR and Canal+ (52:00 minutes)

Awards:
Missoula International Wildlife Film Festival 2007: Missoula International Wildlife Film Festival Award, NaturVision 2007: NaturVision Award, Green Wave – European Environment Festival 2007: Green Wave – European Environment Festival Award

The Wild and the West (2005)

For more than a century, western films have awakened a yearning for wide open country in audiences around the world. Many people are sure that they can immediately recognize the Wild West because of the movies, but it is an illusion: the nature on display in the westerns is far removed from reality.

In movies, the river is sometimes just a day’s ride from the desert, when in reality the respective landscapes are thousands of miles apart. The water levels of the famed Rio Bravo have been so low for so long that the Colorado or San Juan rivers were traditionally used as stand-ins. If the landscape was too sparse, saguaro cacti were used to spice it up – whether they actually grow there or not. Almost every film is full of vultures, bison, mustangs and turkeys, but one rarely sees a pronghorn antelope: although they were one of the main sources of food for rangers and settlers at the time, the animals were airbrushed from movie history for financial reasons – probably because they were only ever seen from a distance and were therefore difficult to film.

The famous “Man with No Name”, the hero of innumerable westerns in the 1960s and 70s, rides through the countryside and this film, explaining the thought processes of the scriptwriters. Nothing is strange to him:  From the cavalry, whose legend is bigger than reality, to the myths of the relentless burning hot desert. He proves (at least on celluloid) that it’s possible to kill and roast a turkey within five seconds. The somewhat tongue-in-cheek hero is portrayed by Joe Dimmick, the world’s number one Clint Eastwood double for more than thirty years.

By the end of the film, Joe hopes that the audience is on his side: “Feel it? That urge to ride on and on, leave everything behind, follow the sun to where it goes down? Well, I tell you this: I reckon if you really want it, you can still find the Old West anywhere!”

The original music was written by Andy Baum. For the central campfire scenes he composed a melancholic ballad, which was interpreted with a lot of feeling and humor by the Arizona-based musician Lou Stebner.

Written and directed by Manfred Christ, Harald Pokieser, Cinematography by Stephan Mussil, Camera assistant and sound recordist: Rene Schuh, Editing by Adam Wallisch, Narrated by Joe Dimmick, Original music by Andy Baum, Original song “Bye ‘n Bye” performed by Lou Stebner, Production management: Dagmar Hovestädt, Toni Nemeth, Lighting technician: Ron Anderson, Additional cinematography: Tom Rist, Jim Brandenburg, Michael Schlamberger, Location managers: PJ Connolly, Orville Cisco, Thadd Turner, Frank Brown, Man with no name: Joe Dimmick, Villains: Thadd Turner, Pete Brown, Darwin Mitchell, Native American: Richard Gonzales, Bob: as himself, US cavalry: Leavey Foundation for Historic Preservation, Inc., Helicopter pilot: Mario Nickl, Sound editing and mixing: Stefan K. Fiedler, Additional sound recording: DJ Lynch, David Lebreque, Music re-recording and mixing: Polio Brezina, Special effects: Tom Ford, Props: „Doc“ Ingalls, Andrew Kentsworth, Foley artist: Karl Königsberger, Animal trainers: Dennis R. Grisco, Craig Ivanyi, Sue Pygielski, Shawnee Riplog-Peterson, Boss wrangler and stunts: Darwin Mitchell, Additional wrangler: Bob Jauregui, Mike and Pat Boyle, Colorist: Willi Willinger, Makeup artists: Kim Collea, Tina Dyer, Graphic designer: Christine Puchner, Postproduction crew: Christian Vollenhofer, Jörg Achatz, Herbert Fischer, Translations: Klaus Feichtenberger, Harald W. Azmann, Dale Sutter, Supervising editors: Walter Köhler (ORF), Maureen Lemire, Steve Burns (Discovery), Tom Synnatzschke (NDR).
A co-production of ORF, Discovery Channel USA and NDR Naturfilm, produced by Cosmos Factory (52:30 minutes)

Awards:
Wildscreen Festival, United Kingdom/Panda Award for Innovation, Matsalu International Nature Film Festival, Estonia/Best Directing „Man and Nature“, Green Screen Festival, Germany/Best Camera, US International Film and Video Festival/Gold Camera Award, New York Festivals/Gold World Medal, Wildlife Asia Film Festival, Singapore/Lion Award „for breaking boundaries“

The Gorillas of my Grandfather (2004)

In 1902, German army Captain von Beringe had been the leader of an official expedition to the Virunga Volcanoes in today‘s Rwanda. He became the first European to encounter and describe mountain gorillas. He shot a mysterious black creature while climbing an unexplored volcano in Central Africa. From this chance encounter, a dramatic story began to unfold. The creature was a new species, a mountain gorilla. Decades of conflict and tragedy followed before the terrifying icon of King Kong was shown to be a myth by researchers such as George Schaller and Dian Fossey.

A hundred years after the discovery, Robert‘s Grandson, Andreas von Beringe, a Viennese doctor, sets out on a journey to retrace his Grandfather‘s adventures and to reveal the whole story of the mountain gorilla. We take grandson Andreas on a trip to retrace the route of that expedition and relive, his grandfather‘s diary in hand, that memorable encounter with the hindsight of one hundred years of dramatic human-gorilla relations.

Written, filmed and directed by Adrian Warren, Archive photography: Carl Akeley, George Schaller, Bob Campbell, Gerard Vienne, Bruce Davidson, Brenton Kelly, Peter Veit, Sound recording: Will Brett, Edited by Jörg Achatz, Narrated by Andrew Golder, Music composed by Kurt Adametz, Colorist: Tom Varga, Mark Knights, Sound editing and dubbing mixer: Stefan K. Fiedler, Foley artist: Karl Königsberger, Production manager: Wolfgang Knöpfler, Dae Sasistorn, Producer: Adrian Warren, Harald Pokieser. Produced by Last Refuge & Cosmos Factory for ORF in co-production with Devillier-Donegan-Enterprises, in association with WDR and NDR Naturfilm (52:40 minutes)

Awards:
Wildlife Vaasa Festival, Finland/Best Festival Film Overall, Envirofilm, Slovakia/Prize of the Lord Mayor for amazing insight into the life of the gorillas, EKOFILM, Czech Republic/ČSOB Award

The Flight of the Bald Ibis (2003)

Bald Ibises migrated back and forth between Central Europe and Northern Africa, before they were pushed over the brink by hunting and habitat destruction. Today, the birds have no memory of the old seasonal migration routes.

This is the story of a modern adventure. An adventure that takes place right on our doorstep – between the Austrian mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. A group of young researchers decide to invest all their energy and passion to give back to the Continent a strange bird, the European Ibis.

The film tells the passionate story of the week-long attempt to coax a flock of black Bald Ibises to flap their wings all the way down to Italy. To be sure, the birds were not inclined to accomplish this feat in the manner the biologists had visualized. But in the end they did reach the sea, and the Bald Ibises glided smoothly across the waves just as their forefathers had done 350 years before.

Written and directed by Manfred Christ, Photography: Josef Neuper, Klaus Achter, Camera assistance: Christian Stolz, Wescam operator: Irmin Kerck, Location manager: Verena Baldeo, 2nd Unit: Angela Schmid, Birgit Kruschwitz, Editing by Adam Wallisch, Music composed by Andy Baum, Dubbing mixer: Stefan K. Fiedler, Polio Brezina, Narrated by Duncin Larkin, Helicopter pilot: Volker Betzler, Colorist: Tom Varga, Graphic design by Christine Puchner, Jörg Achatz.  A co-production of ORF, Bayerischer Rundfunk and ARTE, produced by Cosmos Factory (50:43 minutes)

The Incredible Hulik and His Beavers (2002)

Thanks to his incredible perseverance, a Slovakian biologist has pulled off a remarkable feat: Tomáš Hulík has befriended wild, free-roaming beavers. He can sit right next to them as they gnaw on trees at night, follow their every move without disturbing them, and even touch them. His secret: about 300 nights spent with the beavers in the dark forest—through heat and mosquitoes, storms and frost.

His observations offer science a more direct insight than ever before into the daily lives of European beavers, their family life, individual personalities, social behavior, and daily habits.

Written and directed by Harald Pokieser, Photography: Tomáš Hulík, Harald Mittermüller, Underwater Photography: Gerhard Pock, Film editor: Jörg Achatz, Music by Andy Baum, Narrated by David Cameron. A co-production by ORF and Cosmos Factory in association with DocStar/Canal Plus (50:00 minutes)

Awards:
Envirofilm, Slovakia/Prize of the General Director of the Slovak Environmental Agency

Night of the Salamander (2001)

The film reveals all the miracles and curiosities in the salamander world that, until now, were only known to a few experts in the field. In technical terms, the film team went to some lengths: Thermal image cameras show that salamanders are as cold as the night they inhabit, night vision cameras allow the viewer to watch them in the dark, magnetic resonance tomography and x-ray images show us the inside of their bodies.

Manfred Christ and Harald Pokieser have joined forces in Tuscany, Mexico, the United States, Spain, France, and Japan with that select group of people who have decided to devote their lives to salamanders.

Directed by Manfred Christ, Written by Manfred Christ, Harald Pokieser, Photography: Bernhard Wallentin, Additional photography: Arne Hodalič, Josef Neuper, Film editor: Adam Wallisch, Music by Andy Baum, Serkan Gürkan, Sound recording: Rene Schuh, Dubbing mixer: Gottfried Moser, Stefan K. Fiedler, Polio Brezina, Colorist: Tom Varga, Graphic design and compositing: Jörg Achatz, Christine Puchner, Location manager: Jesus Barrientos (Spain), Tomoko Muneoka (Japan), Supervising editor: Walter Köhler. Produced by Cosmos Factory for ORF in association with DocStar/Canal Plus (50:32 minutes)

Awards:
Envirofilm, Slovakia/Award for the catchy description of the multiform life of salamanders, full of rarities and unusual information.
Comment by Isabel Varela, head of documentaries at Canal+ Spain: “Brilliant”.

The Legend of the Shepherd Dogs (1996)

On the natural history of shepherd dogs. The story begins with the German Shepherd, an all-round genius who is used as a service dog on every continent. He is as versatile as no other, a Swiss Army knife on four legs. German Shepherds work for the police, the military, the fire brigade and water rescue but they are rarely seen in the pastures of Europe these days.

Today, other breeds are far superior to them when it comes to working with sheep: the most famous is the Kelpie, tailor-made for the endless pastures of Australia, tough, rough and enduring. The king of sheepdogs lives on the border between England and Scotland: the Border Collie, whose skills in driving flocks of sheep seem like a circus trick. Australian cowboys have another favorite, the Stumpy Tail Cattle Dog. They have genes of dingoes and Scottish collies. When it comes to working with cattle, no dog can compete with them.

Written and directed by Manfred Christ & Harald Pokieser, Photography: Harald Mittermüller, Additional photography: Phil Dority, Sound recording: Hermann Winklhofer, Edited by Karl Königsberger, Music composed by Christos, Location management (Australia): John Bradley, Presented by Helmut Pechlaner. A production of ORF, produced by Cosmos Factory – supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior (50:00 minutes)