The Commoners (2009)

Short

In 1890, a wealthy eccentric named Eugene Schieffelin collected every bird ever mentioned by Shakespeare and released them into Central Park.

The only one to survive in the New World was the European Starling, now among the commonest – and most despised – birds in America.THE COMMONERS is an essay film about European Starlings, poetry, the rhetorical relationship between nationalism and environmentalism, and the paths people forge through history as they attempt to improve the natural world.

A collaboration with Jessica Bardsley.

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Sound design: Jesse Stiles
Additional footage: Dylan Winter
Additional narration: Caspar Stracke

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SELECTED SCREENINGS
Microscope Gallery, NYC (September 2011)
Biodoversity Film Festival, Austria (November 2010)
Rooftop Films, NYC (June 2010)
Sarasota Film Festival, Sarasota FL (2010)
Athens International Film & Video Festival, Athens OH (2010)
Big Sky Documentary Film Festival, Missoula MT (2010)
Dallas Video Festival, Dallas TX (November 2009)
Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival, Hot Springs AR (October 2009)
Antimatter Film Festival, Victoria BC Canada (October 2009)
video_dumbo, Brooklyn NY (September 2009)
“Lessons in the Sky: A Filmic Tribute to Audubon,” curated by Andrea Grover & presented by the Dia Art Foundation (June 16, 2009)

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