Film

Emptying the Skies

2015 · 1h 18m · Documentary

IMDb

7.5

Rotten Tomatoes

90%

If you want to impress your dining companions in Cyprus, it's not caviar that you order, but ambelopoulia: a tiny songbird. But as this gripping doc reveals, the cost to bring such delicacies to the table is enormous. Bestselling novelist Jonathan Franzen takes a break from the world of fiction to guide us through an all too horrifying reality: tens of millions of protected migratory songbirds are illegally killed every year. Franzen, a longtime bird lover, accompanies young staffers of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter on their expeditions. With police enforcement in Southern Europe practically non-existent, they risk their lives to rescue trapped birds, and confront hostile poachers. It's a topic that proves a cultural flashpoint -- the Cypriot landowners cannot understand why a bunch of Italians can tell them what to do on their land.

• Roger KassDirector
• Doug KassDirector

Emptying the Skies Official Trailer 1 (2015) - Documentary HD

Release date

April 22, 2015

Status

Released

Original language

English

Runtime

1h 18m

Genres

Documentary