A Birdbrain is a stupid person, lacking intelligence, understanding, reason, wit, or sense. But the black vultures in this film are anything but crazy or stupid. They are, however, in a dire situation. They are threatened with extinction. Zoos are trying to address this with breeding programs. But in captivity, you can't learn what you learn in the wild, and need to learn to survive. Worse still, research shows that animals in captivity are becoming more stupid, and endangered species are at risk of developing an endangered brain.
Biologist and psychologist Dr. Frederick Verbruggen of Ghent University (EcoBird project) is trying to address this in two ways. On the one hand, he is trying to map how black vultures, but also other bird species such as gulls, songbirds, chickens, parakeets, quails, and so on, perceive the world, what they pay attention to, how they learn and remember things, and how they make decisions and choices based on this – a field of study called cognition. On the other hand, he is trying to devise “exercises” that would better train captive birds, and black vultures in particular, for life in the wild once they are released.
Lode Desmet (1965) is an award winning international documentary filmmaker who has made films for & in co-production with most European broadcasters – ARTE and BBC included.
He started his career in print journalism – writing for De Morgen and Humo – and moved on to become a sports journalist for Radio 1. In 1994 he started working for television and since then he has made a long list of shorter and longer documentary films. A short selection of his more recent filmography:
- Parcours, 2023 (Docville, VRT)
- Brexit Behind Closed Doors, 2019 (BBC, ARTE, ZDF, VPRO, VTM, RTBF, NRK, DR & SVT)
- A La Guerre Comme A La Guerre, 2010 (ARTE & Lichtpunt)
Why do I want to make this film? As a documentary filmmaker, I observe people and show their behavior, but I leave the interpretation to the viewer, with considerable freedom to form their own opinion. It couldn't be any other way, because many documentaries focus on just one case, one or a few individuals, so naturally, you can't draw any grand, general conclusion from that. Scientists do the opposite. They look at the world with the intention of generalizing, discovering irrefutable laws, and they won't publish anything until they've developed a thesis that they can extensively substantiate with examples. In nature documentaries that knowledge is often translated into breathtaking stories. Because I'm sometimes a little jealous of that — of that broader context — I once made a documentary series based on this motto: What if we were to look at ourselves, at that strange creature 'the working person' the way we look at animals in nature documentaries? Professor Frederick Verbruggen made the opposite move ten years ago. He began his career observing people, then switched to birds. And soon he realized that birds, too, are individuals first and foremost. And that behavioral science and the individual are like… the chicken and the egg.
Directed & filmed by Lode Desmet
Edit - Michel Ronsmans
Sound post - Frank Duchêne
Music - Roel De Ruijter
Graphics - Kasper Bogaert
Post-production - Jack the Cutter
Production - Nina Payrhuber & Mark Daems
Docville, Scienceville, 2026
Duration: 54'38"
In co-production with Docville & VRT
With the support of Universiteit Gent, Department of Economy, Science & Innovation, Fonds Pascal Decroos and the Tax Shelter measure of the Belgian Federal Government through Flanders Tax Shelter
Language: Dutch & English
Subtitles: Dutch & English