The art of flying


Short film about “murmurations”: the mysterious flights of the Common Starling. It is still unknown how the thousands of birds are able to fly in such dense swarms without colliding. Every night the starlings gather at dusk to perform their stunning air show.
Because of the relatively warm winter of 2014/2015, the starlings stayed in the Netherlands instead of migrating southwards. This gave filmmaker Jan van IJken the opportunity to film one of the most spectacular and amazing natural phenomena on earth.
The art of flying has been screened on over 50 international filmfestivals, galleries, etc and won the award for Best Art Film at Pärnu International Documentary Film Festival, Estonia in 2016. In 2017, a short version of the film was published on National Geographic Short Film Showcase and was awarded as Vimeo Staff Pick. The film was viewed by very many people online.
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