Emptying the Skies + Extended Q&A with Jonathan Franzen @ ODEON 18

Director
Douglas Kass

Producer
Roger Kass

Country
United States

Year
2013

Duration
85 MINS

If you want to impress your dining companions in Cyprus, it's not caviar that you order, but ambelopoulia: a tiny songbird. But as this gripping doc reveals, the cost to bring such delicacies to the table is enormous. Bestselling novelist Jonathan Franzen takes a break from the world of fiction to guide us through an all too horrifying reality: tens of millions of protected migratory songbirds are illegally killed every year. Franzen, a longtime bird lover, accompanies young staffers of the Committee Against Bird Slaughter on their expeditions. With police enforcement in Southern Europe practically non-existent, they risk their lives to rescue trapped birds, and confront hostile poachers. It's a topic that proves a cultural flashpoint -- the Cypriot landowners cannot understand why a bunch of Italians can tell them what to do on their land.

Carol Nahra

Q&A with author Jonathan Franzen

Please note: this screening is taking place at the Odeon.