Emptying the Skies

Based on a New Yorker essay by best-selling novelist Jonathan Franzen, EMPTYING THE SKIES exposes the rampant poaching of migratory songbirds in southern Europe. Songbird populations have been drastically declining for several decades, with a number of species facing imminent extinction due to their cachet as a French culinary delicacy. This poignant documentary explores the wonder of these tiny globe-trekking marvels, millions of which are unlawfully slaughtered each year for large sums on the black market, and follows the valiant efforts of an intrepid squad of pan-European bird-lovers who are waging a secret war against poachers, and often risking their lives to stop the illegal trapping.