Wilderness Europe

Europe’s most extraordinary animals in their respective habitats. High-quality footage and a subjective narrative style let viewers take on the perspective of the animals and experience the threat posed by humans and climate change at first hand.

Year

2022

Length

4x 43min / 4x 52min

Director

Marlene Wynants, Sebastian Lindemann &
Carmen Butta

With WILDERNESS EUROPE we start the second season of our documentary series that portrays some of the rarest, strongest and most fascinating animals of our continent. WILDERNESS EUROPE is an international format which transports the viewer to a wonderful world of breathtaking views of landscapes and endangered species, to an Europe that seems as wild as it must have been a thousand years ago. We will take the perspective of animals in a world where humankind slowly – too slowly – start to realize that we have to make changes in order to preserve nature and in order to enable a future for the generations to come. Fascinating landscape photography in high quality UHD, paired with spectacular Cineflex and drone aerial photography, presents nature, animals and people of Europe in never-before-seen richness of color.

The four episodes each focus on one animal and presents its lifestyle, needs and habitat in every aspect: the musk ox, the capercaillie, the golden jackal and the mouflon. What are their challenges in a changing world? How does climate change affect them and how do they defend their territory against human influence? In order to get to know the animal protagonists in their habitat and to make their experiences and their daily challenges tangible, we will approach the animals with special camera technology and, whenever possible, will also create perspectives from the animals‘ point of view – behind the scenes of wilderness, so to speak.

Scientists and experts place the single animals we meet into the larger context of their species and connect them to other animal populations. The selection of animals leads us on a voyage of discovery through unique areas and primeval landscapes; it allows us to cross political borders that the animals are not aware of on their journey – Europe in all its diversity.

Episode 1: The Musk Ox

The musk ox is a survivor of the last ice age and has only been reintroduced to the European continent about 100 years ago. In the Norwegian Dovrefjell National Park it has to withstand arctic temperatures below -50 degrees Celsius.

Episode 2: The capercaillie

It is the largest chicken bird in Europe and impresses every spring with beautiful courtship rituals. The shy capercaillie lives hidden in our forests and finds less and less suitable habitat.

Episode 3: The golden jackal

Unnoticed, very quietly, the small predator is conquering new territories. Coming from East Asia and the Balkan region, the jackal is spreading to Western and Northern Europe. What impact does the animal hunter have on humans and nature?

Episode 4: The mouflon

For 9,000 years, the European wild sheep could not be driven out of its original habitat on Cyprus and Sardinia. Now the mouflon faces a bigger, more sinister enemy: climate change, which threatens its habitat on the two Mediterranean islands.

Credits

Written and directed by
Marlene Wynants
Sebastian Lindemann
Carmen Butta

Camera
Jan Zabeil
Dino von Wintersdorff
Eddy, Zimmermann
Jens Saathoff
Gary Krosnoff

Sound
Lukas Seiler
Andreas Nordmeyer
Mateusz Gnys
Arthur Oleszczuk
Nicolas Winkelhahn
Lukas Röhrdanz

Editors
Jens Greuner
Maren Großmann
Marion Pohlschmidt

Graphics
Stefan Matlik

Voiceover
Nina Petri

Music
Paul Timmich
Nils Kacirek

Color Correction
Bernie Greiner

Sound Mix
Pierre Brand
Sascha Prangen

Postproduction
Malte Hadeler

Line Producers
Juliane Hribar (GBF)
Katharina Krohmann (ZDF)

Producers
Nadine Neumann
Marlene Wynants

Executive Producer
Reinhardt Beetz

Editorial
Marita Hübinger

Sales & distribution

Trailer

„Just in diesem Moment überraschen uns die aus dem Theaterbereich stammenden jungen Regisseure Hans Block und Moritz Riesewieck mit einem erstaunlichen Dokumentarfilm, der seit Monaten Publikum und Kritik auf den wichtigsten Festivals der Welt elektrisiert. Völlig zu Recht: Es ist, als würden einem die Scheuklappen weggerissen, als sähe man das, was sich seit Jahren direkt vor unseren Augen abspielt, zum ersten Mal unverschleiert... eine fesselnde ,Doku noir' mit höchstem Anspruch...Dieser Film müsste an allen Schulen gezeigt werden.“

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

17.05.2018