In conjunction with our current exhibition, Hope is the Thing With Feathers, Stephen Ives offers a behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming documentary, Flying High. The film tells the story of Dr. Johannes Fritz, a scientist devoted to the Northern Bald Ibis—a rare bird whose traditional migration route over the Alps has been disrupted by climate change. Refusing to stand by and watch them disappear, Fritz hatches a bold plan: he enlists human foster mothers to raise the birds just after they hatch, getting them to bond so strongly that they will follow them anywhere. With a homemade microlight aircraft rigged to a kiteboarder’s parasail, Johannes and the foster mothers lead the birds on a 1,740-mile journey from Germany to a new sanctuary in southern Spain. 

Directed by Tyler Schiffman and produced by Stephen Ives and Amanda Pollak—with executive producers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon—the film is both a thrilling adventure and a stirring tribute to human ingenuity, compassion, and perseverance. This talk is co-hosted with 90 North and promises to inspire audiences with its message of hope in the face of a warming world.

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