WATCHING PEOPLE WATCHING BIRDS 

DOKU | FILM | CINEMA

Germany 2026
92 min (DE/EN)

Directors:  Ulrike Franke, Michael Loeken

Distribution: realfiction
International Distributor: New Docs

Politically urgent, serious yet humorous, this film follows people who are passionate about birdwatching. World-famous author Jonathan Franzen, the bakery saleswoman, the young team of ornithologists: they are all united by their love for a highly endangered species. Through their eyes and ears, we enter the world of birds – a world that becomes a striking metaphor for the state of our planet.


TRAILER


FESTIVALS/SCREENINGS

2026 CPH:DOX / 11–22 March 2026 / Copenhagen /Danemark
Welt-Premiere: 15 March 2026

Screenings: CPH:DOX
Copenhagen: 15/16/19/21 March 2026

DOX:DANMARK Screenings:
KALUNDBORG:DOX – Local filmfestival: 11 March 2026
TØNDER:DOX – local filmfestival: 12 March 2026
ESBJERG:DOX – local filmfestival: 15 March 2026
THY:DOX – local filmfestival: 15 March 2026
GLOSTRUP:DOX – local filmfestival: 18 March 2026
VARDE:DOX – local filmfestival: 18 March 2026
HADERSLEV:DOX – local filmfestival: 19 March 2026
VENDSYSSEL:DOX – local filmfestival: 20 March 2026
SVENDBORG:DOX – local filmfestival: 21 March 2026
HEDENSTED:DOX – local filmfestival: 22 March 2026
BORNHOLM:DOX – local filmfestival: 22 March 2026


STILLS


SYNOPSIS

The number and diversity of birds worldwide is declining dramatically. At the same time, more and more people are discovering the world of birds for themselves: they all have their own unique stories that led them to become birdwatchers.

Looking through binoculars is also a search for something primal, unique, and true. In an almost magical way, this search seems to transfer to the viewer, as if one were leaving the cinema with heightened senses and entering another world.

Our film turns its gaze away from the birds and back to the people who inspire us with their love of birds and their devotion to nature. We also meet the world-famous author Jonathan Franzen, who says: “One reason wild birds are so important (…) is that they represent our last, best connection to a natural world that is otherwise disappearing.”

Humorous, serious, and environmentally controversial, the film uses cinematic images and intense soundscapes to paint a picture of a society in a state of crisis and upheaval. The film becomes a narrative of doubt and hope, life and death, staying and disappearing. And the birds become, in an intoxicating, almost eerie way, a metaphor for the state of the world.


CREDITS

WATCHING PEOPLE WATCHING BIRDS 

Germany 2026
92 min (DE/EN)

Directors: Ulrike Franke, Michael Loeken
Director of Photography: Jörg Adams, Hajo Schomerus
Location Sound: Filipp Forberg, Andreas Hildebrandt
Editor: Sophie Oldenbourg, Guido Krajewski
Music: Maciej Śledziecki
Commissioning Editor: Jutta Krug, WDR
Supported by: Film- und Medienstiftung NRW / Der Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (BKM) / Deutscher Filmförderfonds