Directed by Eric Liner
USA | 2017 | Documentary | 95 min
Film Source: Filmmaker
Sponsors: Sandy and Muffie Milens
*Followed by Skype Q&A with Director Liner - Sunday screening only*
The Philippine eagle is a bird of extremes. It’s the world’s largest and rarest eagle, found only in the Philippines. Fewer than 700 remain today, and the future of these iconic birds — and of an untold number of other species — is tied to the fate of the Philippines’ last fragments of old-growth forest. In 1977, world-renowned cinematographer Neil Rettig captured the first filmed images of the Philippine eagle in the wild, transforming the bird into a national symbol. But with a rapidly expanding population facing serious political, economic and environmental battles, the eagle’s plight has fallen out of public consciousness. Bird of Prey follows Rettig’s return to the Philippines as he embarks on a grueling expedition alongside the next generation of Filipinos determined to save the eagle from extinction. In order to secure the survival of the species, the team follows a family of nesting eagles from hatch to fledge in hopes of re-establishing the species as a living symbol of the Philippines’ future.