Le Bison d'Europe, colosse de la forêt

Ever since there’s only one male northern white rhino remaining on earth, armed bodyguards protect him, tourists are standing in line to make a selfie with him, journalists rush to Kenya to tell his story and scientists are determined to find ways to reproduce his species. What is so attractive about the threat of extinction? How does this reflect on us?

Twenty-five films from twenty-five European countries by twenty-five European directors.

Inspired by the spirit of adventure of early explorers like St Brendan the Navigator, Irish underwater cameraman Ken O’Sullivan voyages out into the open North Atlantic in search of the great sea monsters described in the explorers’ early texts which may well have been large whales. Over the course of the film, such encounters reveal how enlightenment and awareness dispel the myths and damage of the darkness of our historic perceptions.

Sudan was someone Zacharia Mutai spent years with, someone he knew better than his own children, someone he loved. Sudan’s death was tragic, but not a surprise. Zacharia, the head rhino caregiver at the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in northern Kenya, was caring for one of the last remaining northern white rhinos on the planet. But this is not just the story of Zacharia’s loss or of the death of a rhino. This is the story of the death of a species. A loss of such magnitude is a loss for all of humanity. Without these creatures, we suffer more than just the loss of ecosystem health. We suffer a loss of imagination, a loss of wonder, a loss of beautiful possibilities.

Covenant of the Salmon People is a documentary portrait of the Nez Perce Tribe’s ancient covenant with salmon. The film follows their efforts to uphold this ancient relationship as dams and climate impacts threaten one of the cornerstones of their culture.

As wolves repopulate Washington, conflict is heating up with rural ranching communities. Daniel Curry’s job is to patrol wild areas on horseback, creating a buffer between wolves and the cattle herds that graze on public lands. Whenever these wild carnivores are suspected of killing livestock, the consequences can be fatal. As illegal poaching and state-sponsored kills take a heavy toll, can Daniel prove that coexistence between ranchers and wolves is possible?

The mysterious jungles of Thailand are home to some of the rarest wild cats on earth - the Clouded Leopard, The Asian Leopard, The Indian Fishing Cat and the Indo Chinese Tiger. In one of the last truly wild corners of the world this extraordinary collection of secretive predators defend their last remaining stronghold. As their territories intertwine and continuously shift, these cats must cheat death on a daily basis if they are to survive and thrive out in these tangled lands

Sir David Attenborough narrates a documentary about the Kea, the world's only alpine parrot. Playful and destructive, it attacks cars, starts landslides and terrorises New Zealand ski resorts but behind the bad behaviour there's a sharp mind at work. David tries to play chess with a kea and discovers how its cheeky character is the key to its survival.

In September of 2017 German writer and director Daniel Raboldt accompanied a group of German and Polish scientists and students into the woods of Masuria, Poland. The expedition aimed to find traces of the so-called "lost villages", left by the Masurians around 1945 by the end of the Second World War. Today only some of the old graveyards can be found deep in the woods of the beautiful Masurian landscape. The documentary "In the back of history - The lost villages of Masuria" shows the students at their work in the historic archives and in the woods. How conclusive can this kind of historic research be? How much can we really learn by looking through old files or other sources? And what can we learn from the vanishing of the Masurians? Do we face similar problems today? The film dives deep into themes like the rise of nationalism and identity and uncovers the tragic end of a population that was asked one simple question in the early 20th century: Stay or Leave?