The Meadow

Swamp Dialogues

January 2015 •English

The Danube Delta in Romania - the 'Last European Sanctuary’ - is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. While major efforts are made to protect biodiversity, the plight of local communities is largely overlooked. Social scientists claim that the traumatic nature of the swamp bears heavy on the villagers' lives. But is Nature really to blame? Swamp Dialogues is based on an extensive field-research in the Danube Delta Biosphere Reserve. Through a careful ‘argument montage’ built entirely on cinematic language the film represents an anthropological analysis formulated in image and sound.

March of the Penguins

January 2005 •French

Every year, thousands of Antarctica's emperor penguins make an astonishing journey to breed their young. They walk, marching day and night in single file 70 miles into the darkest, driest and coldest continent on Earth. This amazing, true-life tale is touched with humour and alive with thrills. Breathtaking photography captures the transcendent beauty and staggering drama of devoted parent penguins who, in the fierce polar winter, take turns guarding their egg and trekking to the ocean in search of food. Predators hunt them, storms lash them. But the safety of their adorable chicks makes it all worthwhile. So follow the leader... to adventure!!

Cave Crocs of Gabon

January 2018 •English

A caving expedition recently discovered a community of dwarf crocodiles living in the Abanda Caves, Gabon. The crocs are living in pitch darkness, hunt bats and some have bright-orange skin. Part of the original team returns to find out more about this bizarre phenomenon. It's mission impossible to access the crocs world and there's no way of knowing what they might find.

The Giants

April 2023 •English

A portrait of environmental folk hero & gay icon Bob Brown, who took green politics to the center of power. His story is interwoven with the life cycle of the ancient trees he's fighting for.

Povo da Floresta

January 2024 •Portuguese

Serengeti Stories

October 2005 •German

"Serengeti Stories: The Work of Hugo van Lawick" follows the famed wildlife filmmaker and includes clips of his masterpiece, "People of the Forest," about chimpanzees and their social relationships. Also: clips of "Wild Dogs of Africa" (1972), a heroic story of survival.

New Zealand 3D: The Forgotten Paradise

November 2013 •English

New Zealand is one of the most remote countries in the world. Owing to the great distance from continents and, as a result of intense volcanic activity, unique flora and fauna as well as extraordinary landscapes have developed in this island country. The settlement of humans over the centuries has naturally also had an influence on the landscape. This film is an invitation to travel across the diverse landscapes of New Zealand.

L'Europe à la reconquête de la biodiversité

May 2019 •French

City Slickers: A tale of two African penguins

June 2002 •English

Fifteen years ago, a handful of African Penguins, normally found only on remote islands off the Southern African coast, stumbled across on of the Cape's most beautiful and popular tourist beaches. They swam, they saw, they conquered. And today, Boulders beach is home to more than 4,000 of these delightful, resourceful and entertaining seabirds who live side by side with their human neighbours -well, most of the time! These knee-high invaders not only share the beach, they dodge traffic, scale fences, and take over gardens, the golf course and even the occasional bedroom! For the two feathered stars, Henry and Margot, it's a tale of romance, the challenges of parenthood, separation and a penguin's worst nightmare, oil.

Don't

January 1975 •English

The lyric passage of a Monarch butterfly, beginning with its birth, through its delicate metamorphosis from caterpillar to butterfly and on its journey from country to city. From the first frame, the audience experiences the tension of this perilous flight as numerous adversaries, threaten the butterfly's freedom. A lively sound track, with music composed by Frederic Chopin, allows us to live for a few moments in this fleeting world.

The End of the Game

November 1976 •

An intimate view of the panorama of African wildlife, giving a sense of what it is really like to be there, and in a dramatic climax makes a poignant plea for conservation. Filmed in Zaire, Kenya and Tanzania, the film takes the viewer from deep inside an anthill, to the majestic giraffes suckling their young. African storms, dung beetle ritual dances, duels for supremacy, feeding time, and playtime all end as the animals disappear one by one while the sound of a rifle shatters the existing magic of life. Winner of the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject, 1976.

The World According to Tippi

January 1997 •French

Tippi is no ordinary child. She believes that she has the gift of talking to animals and that they are like brothers to her. 'I speak to them with my mind, or through my eyes, my heart or my soul, and I see that they understand and answer me.' Tippi is the daughter of French filmmakers and wildlife photographers, Alain Degre and Sylvie Robert, who have captured her on film with some of Africa's most beautiful and dangerous animals. Tippi shares her thoughts and wisdom on Africa, its people and the animals she has come to know and love. Often her wisdom is beyond her years, and her innocence and obvious rapport with the animals is both fascinating and charming.

Penguins Under Siege

January 2004 •English

The untold story of South Africa's blackfoot Penguins.

The African Penguin

October 2009 •English

The African penguin is the only penguin that lives on the African continent. It was known as the jackass penguin because of its donkey-like call. This film covers the life cycle of this incredible bird, fom mating to laying of eggs to hunting and the moulting cycle. Sadly, it also shows the stark reality of a bird on the road to extinction.

Snow Bears

December 2017 •English

The enchanting true-to-life tale of polar bear cubs and their mother on a 400-mile journey from their birth den in Svalbard to the pack ice surrounding the North Pole.

Nightlife

October 1976 •English

Documentary depicting the science-fiction shapes and colors of life in the cold seas of Ireland. Nominated for the Academy Award, Best Live Action Short Film, for 1977.

Geheimnisvolle Eichhörnchen

October 2018 •German

Earth Overhaul

August 2011 •English

A group of scientists are thinking outside the box for ways to reverse the effects of global warming. And who better to save the earth than National Geographic Channel's host of the World's Toughest Fixes, Sean Riley? He'll join these experts in the labs and in the field to see what wacky new technologies are being developed, like sending mirrors into space and reducing the greenhouse emissions chickens produce.

The World's Biggest Cave

November 2009 •English

In 2009 a team of British cavers went on an expedition deep within the jungle of central Vietnam. To their amazement they discovered an enormous cave which they believe to be the biggest in the world. The team, the first humans ever to enter the cave, traveled 6 kilometers underground until their way was blocked by a gigantic rock face they dubbed 'The Great Wall of Vietnam'. Now they have returned, but this time with the right equipment to climb the wall and with a geologist and zoologist to discover if this is indeed the Biggest Cave in the World and what secrets lie deep within?

Science of Steroids

February 2008 •English

It is one of the most controversial issues of our day, jeopardizing the health and smearing the reputations of Olympians, professional sports players and even high school athletes. The government has declared them illegal without a prescription, athletes call them unfair, and some doctors say they are potentially deadly. What are the real dangers of these drugs? We've seen what's happening outside the body; now NGC reveals what's happening inside the body, in the Science of Steroids.