Cuckoo - The enemy in my nest

Most cuckoos are less radical than our local variety that throw out the eggs of the foster parents. They just add an egg to the nest and let their young be fostered. Is that a phenomenal trick or one of the mysteries of evolution?

Director: Volker Arzt

Volker Arzt has been working on TV for decades. His background is a degree in theoretical physics, but his passion is moving pictures. He made about 200 documentaries about scientific, medical or ecological topics for children and adults. The project ‘smart birds’ fits right in in with his favourite subject: cognitive abilities of living creatures – reasons for differences, evolutionary development and the part they play in daily life. Ravens and parrots for example are particularly intelligent and smart and seem to have an understanding for techniques and every-day physics. Only legend or scientific knowledge? What may be the outcome of a competition between the smartest representatives of crows and parrots? We can look forward to finding out!

Director: Dietmar Nill

In 2005, the animal photographer Dietmar Nill started working on nature documentaries. For his first camera work on ‘Bats – wait until dark’ he and Volker Arzt received a camera award and the Heinz Sielmann Award at international animal and nature film festivals. He is specifically adept at filming raptors and bats. He has once again teamed up with Klaus Weissmann for the production of ‘Return of the Peregrine Falcon’ and ‘The Journey of the Snow Owls’.

Germany Zambia Spain
2017
43 Min.
German
6
Director: Volker Arzt, Dietmar Nill
Script: Volker Arzt, Angelika Sigl
Cinematography: Dietmar Nill, Roland Gockel, Brian McClatchy, Manolo Castro
Editing: Christian Scholz
Music: Jörg Magnus Pfeil, Siggi Müller, Sebastian Haßler
Narrator: Sascha Rotermund
Editor: Gabriele Conze (WDR), Claudia Schwab (SWR)
Producer: Text und Bild Medienproduktion GmbH & Co.KG
Awards: Heinz Sielmann Film Award 2018
Nominations: Heinz Sielmann Film Award 2018
Website URL: www.textundbild.de