The Story
Winter lingers long in the dark woods of the Limestone Alps. The light barely manages to penetrate the deep canyons. Rivers and waterfalls turn to ice. Everything is surrounded by blue mist, black trunks, grey snow. In the heart of Austria lies a natural landscape that defies any attempt to be characterized with a few strokes of a brush. It may not have the mightiness of the Hohe Tauern, nor the dense jungle of the Danube flood plains, but what the Limestone Alps National Park does have, however, is an intricate and confusing system of gorges and rivers, almost two- thousand-metre-high Karst Mountains and the largest single forested area of the northern Limestone Alps.
Only the golden eagle sees the world beyond the fog cover, circling high above a white sea of cloud from which the snow-covered forested summits and the peaks of the Sengsen mountains protrude like islands.
1999
SD
16:9
49min
German & English
Production Team
Directed by Michael Schlamberger ● Written by Michael Schlamberger, Klaus Feichtenberger, Norbert Winding, Manfred Christ, Harald Pokieser ● Photographed by Michael Schlamberger, Rolando Menardi, Ilona Riehl, Günther Bludszuweit, Helmut Schubert ● Camera Assistant Otmar Penker ● Coordination National Park Erich Mayrhofer, Roland Mayr, Bernhard Schön, Angelika Stückler ● Cast Friedrich und Walter Dirninger, Klaus Feichtenberger, Franz Gölz, Michael Kirchweger, Josef Roidinger, Johann Schmidberger, Franz Trinker● Editor Andrew Naylor ● Written by Klaus Feichtenberger, Malcolm Penny ● Narrated by Malcolm Penny ● Music Sarah Class, Wolfgang Setik ● Locationsound Rita Schlamberger, Otmar Penker ● Dubbing Edit Paul Fisher ● Dubbing Mix Neil Hipkiss, Heinz Bretterbauer ● Colourist Willi Willinger ● Production Co-Ordinator Barbara Schifko ● Production Manager Rita Schlamberger ● Executive Producer Walter Köhler
Supported by the funds of the Ministry of Ecology, Youth and Families and the State of Upper Austria.
Thanks to Ambros Aichhorn, Karl Bodingbauer, Ferienregion Pyhrn-Eisenwurzen, Gemeinde Losenstein, Harald Haseke, Obersteiger Hirner, Mayr-Melnhofsche Forstverwaltung, Oberförster Konrad, Oberforstmeister Fürst, Nationalpark Bayerischer Wald, Österreichische Bundesforste AG, Nationalpark-Forstverwaltung, Oberförster Weißenbacher, Elmar Pröll, Norbert Pühringer, Reptilienzoo Nockalm, Familie Schmidberger, Günter Schultschik, Michael Schwarzlmüller, Walter Stecher, Verein Eisenstraße OÖ, Franz Sieghartsleitner, Voest Alpine
A Co-Production of ScienceVision, ORF and Kalkalpen National Park.
Photo Gallery
Awards
Internationales Film- und Videofestival ’99, Chicago
USA, October 1999, 1st Place Gold Camera Award (Certificate for Creative Excellence)
15eme. Festival International du Film Ornitholgique de Ménigoute Deux-Sevres
France, October 1999, “Prix de la Protection de la Nature”
10 éme Festival International du Film Animalier Albert
France, March 2000, “Prix de la Connaissance et de la Protection de la Faune Européenne”, “Getting to know and protecting the Wildlife”