- DVD Release Date: April 16, 2013
- Run Time: 80 minutes
- Studio: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment
In celebration of this week’s release of Disneynature’s Wings of Life, Disney has shared with me an embeddable 25-page educational guide. The guide was created by Disney’s Animal Kingdom Education Team and introduces learners in grades 2–4 to the amazing and often unseen world of pollinators through science, math and art! Activity sheets, games and units of inquiry help curious young minds explore the plant and animal worlds as well as the many ways that humans depend on them.
ABOUT THE MOVIE:
From Disneynature, the studio that brought you Earth, Oceans, African Cats and Chimpanzee, comes Wings of Life — a stunning adventure full of intrigue, drama and mesmerizing beauty. Narrated by Meryl Streep, this intimate and unprecedented look at butterflies, hummingbirds, bees, bats and flowers is a celebration of life, as a third of the world’s food supply depends on these incredible — and increasingly threatened — creatures.
Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg, Wings of Life utilizes riveting high-speed, time lapse and macro filmmaking to showcase in spectacular detail these unsung heroes of our planet.
Spring is in the air—literally—as Disneynature prepares to unveil “Wings of Life,” a spectacular, closer-than-close, high-definition look at the intricate world of butterflies, hummingbirds, bees and bats, and their life-sustaining collaboration with flowers. Directed by Louie Schwartzberg (“America’s Heart & Soul”) and narrated by Academy Award® winner Meryl Streep, “Wings of Life” will be available on Blu-ray™ Combo Pack, Digital and On Demand on April 16, 2013—just in time for Earth Day.
“In the chaos and craziness of our day-to-day lives, few of us stop to consider what’s happening behind the scenes in nature that makes our lives possible,” said Streep. “This film is a stunning adventure that literally takes flight alongside all kinds of winged creatures—butterflies, bees and bats—each working hard to pollinate our planet.”
Said Schwartzberg, “For me, the joy of doing this film is to be able to explore worlds that humans can’t easily experience—bats sipping nectar in the middle of the desert at night, orchid bees expertly manipulated by a bucket orchid, exotic hummingbirds flying like airborne dancers, and a clustering monarch colony with millions of butterflies. I hope to share the spectacle of nature and to spark in others the sense of wonder I have about the natural world.”
Employing multiple cameras, both time-lapse and high-speed cinematography and extraordinary patience (while nature took its time unfolding), filmmakers shot on location in more than a dozen areas, ranging from the El Rosario Preserve in Michoacán, Mexico, to Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument Park in Arizona. “Wings of Life” features extraordinary imagery shot with digital cameras—one capable of frame rates of up to 1500 frames per second, and the use of a pinhole lens, which allowed the
cameraman to get within millimeters of an insect subject while retaining a clear view of the background. The resulting imagery—intimate and breathtaking—is brought to life for audiences through spectacular high-definition picture and sound quality.
To celebrate the debut of “Wings of Life,” Disneynature has made a contribution to the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund (DWCF) to protect pollinators worldwide. The DWCF has already supported more than 20 projects across North America focused on protecting pollinators and their habitats. Grants have helped conservationists save endangered butterflies, expand habitat for honeybees and educate children about the importance of pollinators and how they can help protect them.
The “Wings of Life” Blu-ray Combo Pack includes a sneak peek at Disneynature’s 2014 big-screen adventure “Bears.” In an epic story of breathtaking scale set against a majestic Alaskan backdrop teeming with life, the film, which is currently in production, follows two mother grizzly bears as they impart life lessons to their impressionable young cubs.
Too many schools cannot afford the fees that oftn come with fun, games, and big company movies.