Scary Man takes an unprecedented look at the peculiar, sometimes grotesque, relationship between humans and birds. Dutch directors Eugenie Jansen and Albert Elings approach this overlooked topic with delicacy and wit as they uncover unexpected truths about human nature. The expansion of agriculture, the development of cities, and all the other ways we have cultivated nature, has created a rift in the natural world. Birds are everywhere – geese in the meadow, sparrows in a glass house, pigeons in the city, and starlings on airport runways – and their presence acts as a reminder of our encroachment on their land. Winner of multiple international awards, including the Earth Watch Film Award from the National Geographic Society, Scary Man explores how the Dutch cope with the competition for space and resources between too many birds and too many people living in a small country. In Dutch with English subtitles.

Eugenie Jansen & Albert Elings---Netherlands---1996---48 mins.