''Winged Migration'' (french: Le Peuple Migrateur, also known as ''The Travelling Birds'' in some UK releases, or ''The Travelling Birds: An Adventure in Flight'' in Australia) is a 2001

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed by Jacques Cluzaud, Michel Debats and

Jacques Perrin Jacques Perrin (born Jacques André Simonet; 13 July 1941 – 21 April 2022) was a French actor and film producer. He was occasionally credited as Jacques Simonet. Early life Jacques André Simonet was born on the Boulevard Port-Royal in P ...

, who was also one of the writers and narrators, showcasing the immense journeys routinely made by birds during their migrations. The film is dedicated to the French ornithologist

Jean Dorst Jean Dorst (7 August 1924 – 8 August 2001) was a French ornithologist. Dorst was born at Mulhouse and studied biology and paleontology at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Paris. In 1947 he joined the staff of the Muséum national d' ...

Production

The movie was shot over the course of three years on all seven

continent A continent is any of several large landmasses. Generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, up to seven geographical regions In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas t ...

s. Filming began in July 1998 and ended in spring 2001. It was shot using in-flight cameras, most of the footage is aerial, and the viewer appears to be flying alongside birds of successive species, especially

Canada geese The Canada goose (''Branta canadensis''), or Canadian goose, is a large wild goose with a black head and neck, white cheeks, white under its chin, and a brown body. It is native to the arctic and temperate regions of North America, and it is o ...

. They traverse every kind of weather and landscape, covering vast distances in a flight for survival. The filmmakers exposed over 590 miles of film to create an 89-minute piece. In one case, two months of filming in one location was edited down to less than one minute in the final film. Much of the aerial footage was taken of "tame" birds. The filmmakers raised birds of several species, including storks and pelicans, from birth. The newborn birds imprinted on staff members, and were trained to fly along with the film crews. The birds were also exposed to the film equipment over the course of their lives to ensure that the birds would react the way the filmmakers want. Several of these species had never been imprinted before. Film was shot from ultralights,

paraglider Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like ' ...

s, and

hot air balloon A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket (in some long-distance or high-altitude balloons, a capsule), which carries ...

s, as well as

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport cargo, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructi ...

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

motorboat A motorboat, speedboat or powerboat is a boat that is exclusively powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gea ...

s, remote-controlled

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may ...

s, and a

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

warship. Its producer says that ''Winged Migration'' is neither a documentary nor fiction, but rather a "natural tale"."Making of" special feature on the DVD The film states that no special effects were used in the filming of the birds, although some entirely CGI segments that view Earth from outer space augment the real-life footage. The film's soundtrack by

Bruno Coulais Bruno Coulais (born 13 January 1954) is a French composer, most widely known for his music on film soundtracks. Life and career Coulais was born in Paris; his father, Farth Coulais, is from Vendée, and his mother, Bernsy Coulais, was born in ...

was recorded by Bulgarian vocal group Bulgarka Junior Quartet in Bulgarian, as well as Nick Cave in English and Robert Wyatt. The vocal effects include sequences in which panting is superimposed on wingbeats to give the effect that the viewer is a bird. Release date * France 2001/12/12 * Belgium 2001/12/12 * Switzerland 2001/12/13...(German speaking region) * Greece 2001/12/14 * South Korea 2002/03/29 * Germany 2002/04/04 * Netherlands 2002/04/18 * Hong Kong 2002/06/20 * Russia 2002/06/21...(Moscow Film Festival) * Czech Republic 2002/07/8...(Karlovy Vary Film Festival) * Czech Republic 2002/07/18 * Canada 2002/09/08...(Toronto Film Festival) * Turkey 2002/09/13 * Israel 2002/09/19 * Hungary 2002/09/19 * Spain 2002/09/27 * Italy 2002/11/15 * Lithuania 2002/12/27 * Poland 2003/04/04 * Japan 2003/04/05...(Tokyo) * USA 2003/04/5...(Philadelphia International Film Festival) * Slovenia 2003/04/17 * USA 2003/04/18...(Limited) * Norway 2003/05/02...(Kristiansand International Children's Film Festival) * Canada 2003/05/30 * Australia 2003/06/19 * Norway 2003/06/20 * New Zealand 2003/07/13...(Auckland International Film Festival) * Mexico 2003/07/25 * Denmark 2003/08/15...(Copenhagen International Film Festival) * Finland 2003/09/05 * UK 2003/09/05 * Denmark 2003/09/12 * Sweden 2003/ 11/07 * Iceland 2004/01/23...(French Film Festival) * Argentina 2004/07/29 * Chile 2005/03/31 * Ireland 2011/07/10...(Galway Film Fleadh)

Reception

''Winged Migration'' has an overall approval rating of 95% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 132 reviews, and an average rating of 8.2/10. The website's critical consensus states, "A marvel to watch". It also has a score of 82 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, based on 34 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". By gross ticket sales, the film still holds seventh place in nature documentaries and eighteenth in documentary overall.

Awards and honors

The film was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

for Best Documentary Feature. It won "Best Editing" at the 27th César Awards, where it was also nominated for "Best Music" and "Best Debut". • Oscar 2003 Best Documentary Feature (nominated) – Jacques Perrin • European Film Award 2002 Best Documentary Feature (nominated) – Jacques Perrin • CFCA Award 2004 Best Cinematography (nominated) – Laurent Charbonnier Best Cinematography (nominated) – Luc Drion Best Cinematography (nominated) – Laurent Fleutot Best Cinematography (nominated) – Sylvie Carcedo Best Cinematography (nominated) – Philippe Garguil Best Cinematography (nominated) – Olli Barbé Best Cinematography (nominated) – Dominique Gentil Best Cinematography (nominated) – Thierry Machado Best Cinematography (nominated) – Stéphane Martin Best Cinematography (nominated) – Fabrice Moindrot Best Cinematography (nominated) – Ernst Sasse Best Cinematography (nominated) – Thierry Thomas Best Cinematography (nominated) – Michel Terrasse Best Documentary (nominated) • Chicago Film Critics Circle Awards 2004 Best Cinematography (nominated) – Bernard Luti Best Cinematography (nominated) – Michel Benjamin • César 2002 Best Editing (Meilleur montage) Marie-Josèphe Yoyotte Best First Work (Meilleure première oeuvre) (nominated) – Michel Debats Best First Work (Meilleure première oeuvre) (nominated) – Jacques Cluzaud • The European Film Award 2002 Best Documentary Award (Nominated) – Jacques Cluzaud Best Documentary Award (Nominated) – Michel Debats

Images

Image:Winged Migration CGI.jpg, One of the CGI shots in ''Winged Migration'', in which an Arctic tern flies above southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

References

External links