Birders: The Central Park Effect
The Central Park Effect reveals the extraordinary array of wild birds whograce Manhattan's celebrated patch of green and the equally colorful,full-of-attitude New Yorkers who schedule their lives around the rhythmsof migration.The film focuses on seven main characters who regularly visit the Parkand have found a profound connection with this hidden natural world.Movie-star handsome Chris Cooper dodges the morning rush hour trafficon bustling Central Park West, his binoculars knocking against his leatherbomber jacket as he ducks into the Park. "My friends mock me for what Ido in the spring because - they know from experience.
From April 15until Memorial Day, they won't see me. Because I'm birding!"Anya Auerbach, a radiant fashion-averse teenager, admits that "I take mybinoculars pretty much everywhere - except school."Acclaimed author Jonathan Franzen recalls that he walked throughCentral Park almost daily for seven years, noticing only the pigeons andsparrows.
Then one day, friends invited him to come along with them ona tour of the Park's famous Ramble section and handed him a pair ofbinoculars. "It was like the trees were hung with ornaments.
It was oneof those rare times in an adult's life where the world suddenly seemsmore magical rather than less."One poignant narrative revolves around Central Park doyenne Starr Saphir,the bird walk leader who's recorded every sighting she's made since the1940s.
After discovering several years ago that she has terminal breastcancer, she says that time has a different meaning for her now. "I have agreat deal more enjoyment. I always loved what I did, but it's heightenedeven more, because I know not only is it not going to last forever- it's notgoing to last all that much longer."Featuring spectacular wildlife footage capturing the changing seasons, thefilm reveals that Central Park acts as a magnet for the millions and millionsof birds migrating along the Eastern Seaboard twice every year.
Desperatefor a rest-stop, the tiny birds funnel in to this oasis of nature amid a sea ofsteel and concrete - a phenomenon known as the "Central Park Effect."Tiny hummingbirds, tall herons and egrets, majestic owls, hawks, orioles,kingfishers, flycatchers and a vast array of wood warblers - the "jewels ofthe Eastern forests" - all have starring roles in the documentary.Filmmaker Jeffrey Kimball's lyrical film transports the viewer to a dazzlingworld that goes all but unnoticed by most of the 38 million who peopleAmerica's most famous park each year.
| Cast: | Jeffrey Kimball |
