Butterflies' Astounding Tale Revealed in New 3D Movie

A new movie is bringing to theaters the tale of the discovery of monarch butterflies' astonishing migration — a journey that remained shrouded in mystery up until the 1970s.

Based on a true story, the 3D film "Flight of the Butterflies," which will show be shown at IMAX® theaters, chronicles the ground-breaking work of scientist Fred Urquhart, a man who spent many years trying to figure out where the iconic butterflies went during the cold winter months. They simply seemed to disappear.

Yet Urquhart's investigations — and his invention of the first butterfly-tracking tags — eventually uncovered a tale so strange it seemed more like fiction than fact.

Continued: http://www.livescience.com/23567-monarch-butterfly-movie-3d.html

"Labor Day Sasquatch Film"

We've seen some strange footage of Gorillas in the wild before, but this one takes the cake. This place looks nothing like the African forests we're used to seeing. If this person is trying to play it off as a real "Sasquatch", then did a good job getting filming a live animal in the wild (very difficult to do). This YouTube video is titled "Labor Day Sasquatch Film".



http://bigfootevidence.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/labor-day-sasquatch-film.html?spref=fb

Endangered Tiger Cubs Caught on Camera Near Proposed Dam

Two endangered tiger cubs and their mother have been caught on film in Thailand near the site of a proposed hydroelectric dam.

The black-and-white footage, taken in May, shows a mother tiger investigating a camera trap near the Mae Wong River. After a moment, her two cubs bound through the woods after her.

The tigers are three of the fewer than 300 wild Indochinese tigers left in Thailand, according to the WWF, which released the video of the cubs and mama tiger, along with the Thai Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

Story continued and video:   http://www.livescience.com/22775-endangered-tiger-cubs-camera-dam.html

Cormorant's deep underwater dive filmed

A South American seabird's high-speed deep dive to the ocean floor has been filmed by researchers.

A camera was fitted to an imperial cormorant's back before it dived 150ft underwater off Argentina's Patagonia Coast in 40 seconds.

The footage shows how in just over a minute it finds and catches a fish, before returning to the surface.

A Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) team is studying the birds to help spot priority feeding areas.

The team led by Dr Flavio Quintana and including conservationists from the National Research Council of Argentina, was able to witness the birds' feeding techniques firsthand for the first time by capturing the underwater behaviour on camera.

Read on and watch video:  http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19077825

Pete's hosts Carnation-set movie premiere of 'Bigfoot,' with Alice Cooper, TV stars | Slideshow

Carnation residents have been waiting months for this, and now, it's almost upon them. Something big is returning to this small town, something big, bad and hairy, and it's bringing Alice Cooper, too.

It's "Bigfoot," a SyFy network original movie, about the missing link's attack on an outdoor '80s rock festival in, uh, the Black Hills of South Dakota, but filmed largely in Carnation last January. The movie premiers Saturday, June 30, at 9 p.m. and Pete's Club Grill, one of the settings used in the movie, will host a viewing party for the public.

The movie is part of the "Big, Bad and Hairy" SyFy marathon of movies about the Northwest phenomenon also known as Sasquatch, but "Bigfoot" is the only one that stars Carnation.

"They used some of our streets, they used some of our businesses," said City Manager Ken Carter, about the film crew, who came to the city in January after a location scout, who'd grown up near Carnation, suggested the city for a location.

"Evidently, there were  limits on how far away from Seattle they could go, in terms of both mileage and time," Carter said. "I guess we met 90 percent of their criteria."

Carter may have lacked the enthusiasm that others in the town had about the film, but he really didn't get to see much of it, or of the stars, which included rockers Cooper and Billy Idol, Danny Bonaduce (The Partridge Family - Danny Partridge); Barry Williams (The Brady Bunch - Greg Brady), Howard Hesseman (WKRP in Cincinniatti - John Caravella, Dr. Fever); and Sherilyn Fenn (Twin Peaks - Audrey Horne).

The crew filmed a fight scene in Pete's Club Grill, and sent one of the lead actors, Danny Bonaduce, into ID Tattoo to film a scene of him getting inked, but the closest they came to City Hall was an exterior shot of the door, planned, but never shot.

As for the title character, he said "They didn't have a Bigfoot. What they did was they had some staff guy, carrying some 10, 12, or 15-foot pole…" for the actors to react to. "So this guy carrying this big, tall pole was Bigfoot."

Continued:  http://www.valleyrecord.com/news/160750005.html

Big cat movie plan by Brighton film school tutor

Two prominent business figures are backing a movie about the Beast of Bevendean.

Millionaire property developer Michael Holland and Michael Chowen, the founder and former owner of British Bookshops and Sussex Stationers, are convinced there is more to the sightings of big cats in Sussex than meets the eye.

Now they are putting their money where their mouths are and supporting Dark Roar, the brainchild of movie maker Ewan Gorman.

Mr Gorman, who teaches at Brighton Film School, said the film is an action/adventure story with two 11-year-old boys at its centre.

He said: “I’m delighted to have the backing of these well-known business people. I hope this will boost the profile of the project.

“In the film, two 11-year-old boys go off to find the beast. They want to find him, trap him and become heroes. But someone else is looking for him too and things don’t go to plan.”

Mr Holland said he was fascinated by the idea of making a film about the mysterious cats.

He said: “I think people will queue up to see this film. There is definitely something behind all these sightings.

“It’s been reported by many sensible people. I think the big cats are out there and I think they are breeding.”

ontinued:  http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/9510116.Big_cat_movie_plan_by_Brighton_film_school_tutor/

"WOMAN IN BLACK" DIRECTOR SEEKS OUT NESSIE

James Watkins, who's already impressed with the likes of EDEN LAKE and THE WOMAN IN BLACK is moving on to one of the world's most infamous monsters, Nessie.

Screen Daily reports that Watkins will co-write THE LOCH alongside Simon Duric, who will eventually helm. The first film planned under producer Will Clarke's newly established Altitude Entertainment, THE LOCH is said to be "a new take on the Loch Ness Monster myth." Clarke said, “He’s not just in the horror genre, he’s got an intelligent approach to narrative and he’s very commercial minded in terms of the way he tells stories as a screenwriter and also as a director, and now as a producer.”

Fairly condescending comment aside (intelligent approach to narrative exists in horror, Mr. Clarke), the notion of a well done Nessie movie is certainly exciting. Duric is best known for his art and storyboard work, and previously collaborated on EDEN LAKE with Watkins. 

Hopefully, THE LOCH proves to be as compelling as the Nessie gets divorced plot in this Reggie & The Full Effect video from 2005.

http://www.fangoria.com/index.php/home/all-news/1-latest-news/7055-qwoman-in-blackq-director-seeks-out-nessie

Bigfoot-like creature stalks, baffles some in Redding: But not young fantasy filmmaker

There have been sightings of an occasional black bear and coyotes in these parts in recent years. There was even the moose spotted on the Merritt Parkway. But encounters with a sasquatch, the ape-like creature usually a figment of Pacific Northwest folks’ imaginations, in Redding?

“Residents of our town may have had a few ‘Bigfoot’ sightings in the last couple of months but it’s nothing to panic over,” said Robert Pizzo of Lonetown Road, in an email message to The Pilot earlier this week. “My daughter — and your former intern photographer — Gracie Pizzo has been shooting a short film around town as her final assignment before graduating from the School of Visual Arts” in New York City this May.

The short’s premiere will take place that month in the school’s theater in Manhatttan.

The film is described as “a short fantasy called ‘Lonetown’ about a girl who befriends a monster.”

The young filmmaker who wrote, directed and is now editing the film and her crew used as locales the Lonetown Marsh, the fields by the Redding Community Center and in and around the Pizzo home.
Ms. Pizzo returned to town for a few reasons; mostly, she was using her younger sister, Sophie, as the subject matter for “Lonetown.” But also because the locations in winter really fit the mood she was going for: a stark contrast to where she lives in Manhattan.

Like the Bigfoot legend, all is not as it appears. The “monster” wasn’t attempting to be Bigfoot at all (“although it sure looked like it to surprised drivers on a few snowy days on Lonetown Road!” Mr. Pizzo exclaimed.) “It was sort of an alter ego/friend to a young girl who may or may not be seeing it for real.”

Continued:  http://www.acorn-online.com/joomla15/thereddingpilot/news/118798-bigfoot-like-creature-stalks-baffles-some-in-redding-but-not-young-fantasy-filmmaker.html

SXSW Announces Features Lineup For 2012 Film Festival

The Hunter (Australia)
Director: Daniel Nettheim, Screenplay by: Alice Addison, Novel by: Julia Leigh, Original Adaptation by: Wain Fimeri
A mercenary is dispatched from Europe to the Tasmanian wilderness by a mysterious biotech company to search for the last surviving Tasmanian tiger.
Cast: Willem Dafoe, Frances O’Connor, Sam Neill (U.S. Premiere)


http://insidepulse.com/2012/02/01/sxsw-announces-features-lineup-for-2012-film-festival/

Ogopogo stars in new film

Although its native name is N’Haatik, most people know the supposed sea serpent that lives in Okanagan Lake as Ogopogo.

Named in song in 1924 at a Rotary Club luncheon in Vernon, Ogopogo is now the star of an award-winning independent film, The Beast of Bottomless Lake, which will receive a theatrical release at three cinemas throughout the Okanagan this week.

The Beast of Bottomless Lake follows cryptozoologist Dr. Paul Moran as he leads a team of dedicated and not-so-dedicated adventurers on an expedition to Okanagan Lake to prove the existence of the legendary lake serpent, the Ogopogo.

The film won the People’s Choice Award at the 2010 Okanagan International Film Festival, playing there to a sold-out house. Interest was so high, a second screening was added.

Starting Sept. 9, Okanagan residents have a chance to see the film, which was shot in the valley, in its limited time run at the Landmark Theatres in Penticton, West Kelowna and Kelowna.

The film has also screened at the Mississauga Independent Film Festival (Vistek Best Feature), VCON and the Olamot Festival in Tel Aviv.

“We have built up an international following through using social media,” said producer C.S. John. “People all over the world are clamouring to see our film. Audience demand to see the film on the big screen in the Okanagan has been high.”

Featured in the cast are David Nykl (Dr. Zelenka on Stargate: Atlantis), Leanne Jijian-Hume (The L-Word​), Bronwen Smith (Gunless) and Roger Haskett (Smallville).

Beast was originally conceived by author Keith Provost, who was a prominent actor in the Kelowna theatre scene in his youth, and who went on to a career in Vancouver as a writer and actor in film, TV and theatre.

In 2001, Provost died suddenly after a tragic bicycle accident. After his death, writers Craig March and Kennedy Goodkey​ carried their friend’s idea to fruition in his memory.

For more information on the film and screening, visit www.provostpictures.com.

http://www.vernonmorningstar.com/entertainment/129165973.html

Imperial Woodpecker found on 1956 film but not on surveys to film location.

The largest woodpecker that ever lived and the closest relative of the Ivory-billed Woodpecker probably went extinct in Mexico in the late 20th century concludes a paper just published in the October 2011 issue of The Auk, the scientific journal of the American Ornithologists’ Union.

It was thought that no photos or film of the two-foot-tall, flamboyantly crested bird existed, until a biologist from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology tracked down a 16-mm film shot in 1956 by a dentist from Pennsylvania. The footage captures the last ever confirmed sighting of an Imperial Woodpecker.

The researchers not only restored the film to use it to describe the species’ behavior but also to study the habitat of the woodpecker by tracking down the exact filming location during a 2010 expedition to the Sierra Madre Occidental mountains, in Mexico. This ’lost species’ survey, was co-funded by The British Birdwatching Fair – Founding Global Sponsor of the BirdLife Preventing Extinctions Programme. Pronatura (BirdLife in Mexico) helped with the expedition logistics.

“It is stunning to look back through time with this film and see the magnificent Imperial Woodpecker moving through its old-growth forest environment, and it is heartbreaking to know that both the bird and the forest are gone,” said Martjan Lammertink, lead author of the paper.

Read on ...

The Erickson Project aka Sasquatch the Quest Documentary

New ‘Mothman’ documentary raises more questions than answers

Posted on 02/23/2011 by Harry Thomas

Guest review by Sonya Harvey

Eyes of the Mothman attempts to explain the mystery surrounding the infamous winged birdman that terrorized the small religious community of Point Pleasant, West Virginia, a story known as The Mothman Prophesies.

The Hollywood movie, featuring Richard Gere as an inquiring reporter (loosely based on the real-life author John Keel who dove head-first into UFO conspiracies) and Laura Linney as a police officer responding to strange middle-of-the-night phone calls (loosely based on the real on-scene journalist during the night terrors of Mothman), attempts to piece together the fateful events that took place in Point Pleasant from 1966-1967 that resulted in the death of 46 people.

In spite of the Hollywood hype, this new documentary actually works to break apart the historical events, piece by piece, and in an attempt to cover all possible angles of the still-unsolved mystery, it at least succeeds in formulating every feasible explanation one could fathom — apart from Mothman being a distant cousin of Mothra that is.

It begins with the Curse of Chief Cornstalk. (Say what? We can’t make this stuff up, folks.) See, there was this famed battle that took place in Point Pleasant, and as the story goes, Cornstalk and the English newcomers were in peace negations’ after the battle between the two groups led to a draw.

Unfortunately for Cornstalk, some of the Native Americans weren’t too keen on the so-called peace talks and they ambushed two newbies enjoying an afternoon hunt. This led to Cornstalk being murdered point blank by the Englishmen who held him in contempt. It’s said Cornstalk’s last words were to utter a curse over Point Pleasant and anyone who calls it home. At least that’s what the locals would have you believe. (Remember the Silver Bridge collapse of 1966, anyone?)

Preposterous? Maybe, but how about the chemical mutations set upon the land where the McClintic Wildlife Preserve now stands. Sure, it once housed multiple TNT and bomb-making warfare bunkers put into play during WWII, through the chemical leaks didn’t come about until the 1980s when teenagers and thrill-seekers rummaged the land as their own personal playground. Needless to say it should come as no surprise that the scientific community, in an attempt to explain the unnatural or unknown, coined newspaper headlines that read: Mothman is nothing more than mutated Sandhill Crane. Really? A mutated Sandhill Crane? You don’t say?

Even weirder still it the appearance of the Men In Black and apossibly sub-human who simply referred to himself as Indrid Cold. Granted, UFOs were bound to play apart in the story of a winged birdman flying through the skies, but the story of local resident Woodrow Derenberger and his meeting with Cold is the weirdest explanation yet, and as it turns out, the story can be corroborated.

You see, Cold, dressed in a head-to-toe black suit with big weird bug eyes and a smile streaked across his face, spoke to Derenberger using telepathy and told him of fateful events that would later come true. When more locals swore UFOs could been seen hovering over their barns and reported missing dogs, more Men In Black would show up, not asking questions, but rather telling the towns folk to keep their mouth shut about what they’d seen.

Still, no one could explain the sight of a seven-foot-tall birdman with grayish skin, big red menacing eyes and wings that spanned ten feet, who could fly straight up into the air without so much as a single flutter, and odder still, no one could explain why the witnesses were plagued with symptoms like swollen pinkeye, sleeplessness and reoccurring nightmares.

Yeah, maybe it was the Curse of Cornstalk, or a mutated Sandhill Crane or UFOs, but we can assure you that it definitely wasn’t a distant cousin of Mothra.

Extras:

* Bonus interviews
* Behind-the-scenes featurette
* Psychic Walk Through
* Audio commentary

Bottom line: While it’s a very intriguing and in-depth history of Point Pleasant and the theories behind the Mothman sightings, Eyes of the Mothman leaves the viewer with way more questions then they probably ever had in the first place.

Eyes of the Mothman
Virgil Films, 155 minutes, not rated
DVD: $29.99

http://blog.mysanantonio.com/dvd/2011/02/new-mothman-documentary-raises-more-questions-than-answers/

Trigger to be auctioned

http://e-edition.metro.co.uk/2010/07/07/ - p13.

Ray's mythical monsters find a home

Wed 30 Jun 2010

The life's work of special effects animator Ray Harryhausen is to have a permanent new home.

The collection will be housed at the National Media Museum in Bradford.

Harryhausen made his name by developing animated creatures based on legends and classical mythology.

The Ray Harryhausen Collection contains drawings, paintings and storyboards, together with his animation models and the original moulds used to make them.

Examples include the skeletons from Jason and the Argonauts and the Medusa and the Kraken from Clash of the Titans.

Harryhausen, who has just turned 90, said: "I am so very pleased and honoured that my Foundation will not only be looking after my collection of 90 years but will also be ensuring that it is seen by as wide an audience as possible. It is also gratifying that the National Media Museum will, in conjunction with the Foundation, be storing and preserving my Collection for the foreseeable future."

An exhibition called Ray Harryhausen - Myths and Legends has also opened at the London Film Museum and will run for 12 months.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/film/ray-harryhausen-collection

Snake steals Cannes limelight

Mon 17 May 2010

Indian actress Mallika Sherawat got up close and personal with a massive 22ft python as she promoted her latest movie at the Cannes Film Festival.

The fantasy/thriller Hisss is based on the Far Eastern myth of a snake woman who is able to take on human form.

Directed by Jennifer Lynch, Hisss also stars Irrfan Khan, Divya Dutta and American character actor Jeff Doucette.

Sherawat's movie Love, Barack, is also being presented at the festival. The romcom is set during Barack Obama's campaign for the US Presidency.

http://web.orange.co.uk/article/film/mallika-sherawat-hisss-cannes

New Charles Darwin film is 'too controversial' for religious American audiences

13th September 2009

A new British film about Charles Darwin has failed to land a distribution deal in the States because his theories on human evolution are too controversial for religious American audiences, according to the film's producer.

Creation follows the British naturalist's 'struggle between faith and reason' as he wrote his 1859 book, On The Origin Of The Species.

The film, directed by Jon Amielm was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has now been sold to almost every territory in the world.

But US distributors have turned down the film that could cause uproar in a country that, on the whole, dismisses scientific theories of the way we evolved.

Christian film review website Movieguide.org described Darwin as 'a racist, a bigot and a 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder.'

The site also stated that his 'half-baked theory' influenced Adolf Hitler and led to 'atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and generic engineering.'

Jeremy Thomas, the Oscar-winning producer of Creation, said he was astonished that such attitudes exist 150 years after On The Origin of Species was published.

'That's what we're up against. In 2009. It's amazing,' he said.

'The film has no distributor in America. It has got a deal everywhere else in the world but in the US, and it's because of what the film is about. People have been saying this is the best film they've seen all year, yet nobody in the US has picked it up.

'It is unbelievable to us that this is still a really hot potato in America. There's still a great belief that He made the world in six days.

'It's quite difficult for we in the UK to imagine religion in America. We live in a country which is no longer so religious. But in the US, outside of New York and LA, religion rules.

'Charles Darwin is, I suppose, the hero of the film. But we tried to make the film in a very even-handed way. Darwin wasn't saying "kill all religion", he never said such a thing, but he is a totem for people.'

Earlier this week it was revealed how the daughter of The Wire star Dominic West will have her own taste of stardom thanks to the film.

Martha West, 10, will join co-stars Paul Bettany and his wife Jennifer Connelly at the British premiere of Creation, a film about Charles Darwin.

Making her film debut, Martha plays Darwin's daughter Annie, whose death pushed him towards writing about natural selection in The Origin Of Species.

She won the role after attending open auditions at the suggestion of her father's agent - despite the British actor's initial misgivings.

West, who plays Detective Jimmy McNulty in the cult American crime series, said: 'It's not something I'd instantly want my children to do, but she's always wanted to act.

'I took her to the audition so she could see what a nightmare it is and she blew the doors off.'

The film's director, Jon Amiel, said: 'I only found out after I cast her that she was Dominic West's daughter.

'It tends to indicate that talent for acting could possibly be genetic - something I'm sure Mr Darwin would have something to say about.'

Martha is West's child with his former partner, Polly Astor. They split when she was a toddler but will both accompany her to the West End premiere at the Curzon Mayfair.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1212966/New-Charles-Darwin-film-controversial-American-audiences.html#ixzz0R4ccsBMy