GERMANY FROM ABOVE
2nd Season
Episode 5: Country
Germany´s cities shine when seen from the satellites. But between the luminous knots there are bigger dark spots in the middle of nowhere. Germany is an industrial country yet it is actually rather one of the most wooded European countries. Almost one third of Germany is covered by forests. And trees have traditionally a much deeper meaning in Germany than in most neighbouring countries.
In the second episode of the new season of the successful „Germany From Above“ the camera floats over the tree tops of oaks and firs, the quintessence of the German version of the Romantic movement. And over the trees we look on the territory of ibexes and chamoises at a 2,500 meter top, over crests and chasms, at the mountain Geißhorn and Nebelhorn in the Alps in Oberstdorf.
But event at the remote National Park of Berchtesgaden modern helicopters rescues the trees that have been infested by bark beetles over steep slopes. It is a controversial issue because in National Parks man should not interfere with natural processes. The last 500 wild horses in Germany that live in Mefelder Bruch, only 30 kilometres away from the mega urban area of the Ruhr region, get indirect help once a year when the young stallions are taken away from the herd.
The collision of nature and heavy industry, of wild life and high tech is very typical of the German industrial nation: four fifth of Germany is covered by forests, heath and agricultural areas. Yet pristine nature is rare and can be found along the former inner-Germany boarder or in inaccessible mountain areas.
It is a country where astonishing opposites are compressed on quite a tight area: from the moonscape kraters of the lignite mining areas in the Lausitz in the East, whose mining waste tips are laser-measured from the helicopter, to the flying session of Sky, the tamed golden eagle, and his falconer Paul Klima in Bavarian Lenggries; from the vintage on the bizarre terraces of the extinct volcano Kaisersthul in south Baden, to the worldwide biggest Heavy Metal Festival in Wacken, a the rural village in Schleswig-Holstein: a 1,800 soul village that every year meets 75,000 concert guests. Both the traffic chaos at the begging and end of the festival and the largest German tent-city that every year comes to live for three loud days are monitored from an helicopter. In Hünscruck a helicopter roars with a 40 meter long flying buzz saw in order cut the tree brunches that obstruct the aisles of high voltage pylons.
Never before have we witnessed from the air the spectacle of cranes gliding over the meadows of the Elbe valley or of 100,000 wild geese meeting at the Ems mouth or at the Lower Rhine; or of young storks gathering for their first migration towards the South. Or of the foals of the wild horses in Dülmen making their first steps.
In the second episode of the new season of the successful „Germany From Above“ the camera floats over the tree tops of oaks and firs, the quintessence of the German version of the Romantic movement. And over the trees we look on the territory of ibexes and chamoises at a 2,500 meter top, over crests and chasms, at the mountain Geißhorn and Nebelhorn in the Alps in Oberstdorf.
But event at the remote National Park of Berchtesgaden modern helicopters rescues the trees that have been infested by bark beetles over steep slopes. It is a controversial issue because in National Parks man should not interfere with natural processes. The last 500 wild horses in Germany that live in Mefelder Bruch, only 30 kilometres away from the mega urban area of the Ruhr region, get indirect help once a year when the young stallions are taken away from the herd.
The collision of nature and heavy industry, of wild life and high tech is very typical of the German industrial nation: four fifth of Germany is covered by forests, heath and agricultural areas. Yet pristine nature is rare and can be found along the former inner-Germany boarder or in inaccessible mountain areas.
It is a country where astonishing opposites are compressed on quite a tight area: from the moonscape kraters of the lignite mining areas in the Lausitz in the East, whose mining waste tips are laser-measured from the helicopter, to the flying session of Sky, the tamed golden eagle, and his falconer Paul Klima in Bavarian Lenggries; from the vintage on the bizarre terraces of the extinct volcano Kaisersthul in south Baden, to the worldwide biggest Heavy Metal Festival in Wacken, a the rural village in Schleswig-Holstein: a 1,800 soul village that every year meets 75,000 concert guests. Both the traffic chaos at the begging and end of the festival and the largest German tent-city that every year comes to live for three loud days are monitored from an helicopter. In Hünscruck a helicopter roars with a 40 meter long flying buzz saw in order cut the tree brunches that obstruct the aisles of high voltage pylons.
Never before have we witnessed from the air the spectacle of cranes gliding over the meadows of the Elbe valley or of 100,000 wild geese meeting at the Ems mouth or at the Lower Rhine; or of young storks gathering for their first migration towards the South. Or of the foals of the wild horses in Dülmen making their first steps.
Facts
Awarded the German Camera Prize (Deutscher Kamerapreis)
First aired 15th May 2011, 19.30 pm on ZDF
Credits
Written, directed and produced by: Petra Höfer and Freddie Röckenhaus
Aerial Photography: Peter Thompson
Director of Photography: Marcus von Kleist, Ingmar Lindner u.a.
Video Editor: Jörg Wegner, Maren Grossmann
Producer: Friederike Schmidt-Vogt, Kay Schlasse, Francesca D`Amicis, Johannes Fritsche
Line Producer: Svenja Mandel
Narration: Leon Boden
Commissioning Editors: Alexander Hesse (ZDF), Katharina Rau (ZDF)
A colourFIELD production commissioned by ZDF
