DocHouse Presents: EMPTYING THE SKIES

Dir. Douglas Kass & Roger Kass
United States - 2013 - 75 mins

Winner: Zelda Penzel Award, Hamptons International Film Festival
Official Selection: Sheffield Doc/Fest 2014
Official Selection: DOC NYC, 2013

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 new documentary reveals, the cost of bringing this rare delicacy to the table is huge. Based on an essay by best-selling novelist Jonathan Franzen (Executive Producer), Emptying the Skies follows an extraordinary and inspiring group of pan-European bird lovers who devote their lives to the protection of these incredible creatures.

With police enforcement practically non-existent, the volunteers are on their own and under constant threat. Songbirds command a large sum on the black market, providing a good living for local poachers and landowners. Directors Douglas and Roger Kass take us into this secret war, observing as the bird lovers risk everything in their mission to save these tiny globe-flying marvels.