Special guest – Ferenc Bilek

I’m Ferenc Bilek, a television production manager but also a backpacker with camera. For three decades I’ve been walking in the wild and trying to catch the most beautiful moments of nature.  Luckily, my work and hobby often meet. As a film maker and a member of a great team “Filmdzsungel”, I had the opportunity annually to participate in a few nature film productions. It was a great honor for me to have been commissioned from the Hortobágy National Park to make a movie about one of the most mystic bird species: the cranes. I have always wondered how this creature is so elegant while also bohemian, radiant and gently caring.  I will never forget when in the early spring with my friend Piotr’s guidance we had the opportunity to film a pair of mating cranes dancing. Only a few meters away we were witnessing their most intimate moments in the polish forest. In the fall, the play of dusk lights and colors on the water surface of larger ponds, the reflection of the gathering cranes, was an unforgettable sight; from a unique point of view, from the air, as we have never seen before. The shooting was also memorable: we made two crane preparations, in which cameras were placed in the middle of a shallow pond. We wanted to film from quite close as the crowd gathers for the night.  It was a serious physical challenge with this equipment to make long distances in the deep mud. So far, no one has ever tried this method yet. We did not know how the birds reacted to the crane preparations and it seemed they could not be fooled by them. But my friend Zsolt’s drone footages however, proved to be very successful, much more tolerated by the cranes than we would ever have believed.

We’ve been making this movie with great passion, hopefully we can pass this feeling to the respected audience. Enjoy!

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