RADIOACTIVE WOLVES
There have been massive increases in large carnivores in the nuclear wasteland and Chernobyl has re-emerged as a complete ecosystem and one of Europe’s largest wildlife sanctuaries and yet it’s radioactive. Where humans can’t live, nature is rebounding and somewhere in this vast nuclear wilderness, there are packs of radioactive wolves, living in an archaic structure that has vanished from other parts of Europe. Here they can thrive, here they can live like real wolves in large packs as they used to. Before 1986, the zone was heavily farmed and populated, and wolves were scarce. In less than 25 years there are an estimated 300+ wolves making the most of this deceptively beautiful landscape. But are these wolves mutants? Have they been affected by nuclear contamination after the ‘86 explosion which released 100 times more radio-nuclides than Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined?
Production Company
ORF Austrian Broadcasting Corporation
ORF Natural History Unit, Wuerzburggasse 30
1136 Vienna
004318787814186
004318787814884
andrew.solomon@orf.at
2010, Austria / Germany / USA / GB, 52 min.
Prod.: Andrew Solomon
Dir.: Klaus Feichtenberger
Dir. of Phot.: Igor Byshnov, Hubert Doppler
Music: Markus Poechinger
Sound: Andreas Hagemann, Andreas Mohnke
Edit.: Sonja Lesowski
Klaus Feichtenberger (b. 1953)
Studied German and English literature, translation and general linguistics in Graz and Southampton. Worked as university lecturer, staff and freelance translator, interpreter, writer, journalist, photographer, cameraman, staff editor (ORF Natural History Unit), staff (ORF/BBC NHUS) and independent film producer. Won several international awards for his films Green Islands in a Sea of Stone, Heimat - Eisenstraße, Heimat - Virgental, Europe - A Natural History, Prince of the Alps, etc.
Filmography
Bianco e nero (1991), Innerungen (1992), Mit vollem Mund (1992), Odyssey (1993), Soca - The Emerald River (1996), Green Islands in a Sea of Stone (1997), The Iron Forest (1999), Realm of the Golden Eagle (2001), Heimat - Eisenstraße (2002), Heimat - Virgental (2002), Sudan - Die Karawanen des Mahdi (2002), Europe - A Natural History (2005), Prince of the Alps (2007), The Crystal River - Traun (2008), Extreme Weather (2009), Nockberge National Park (2010), Radioactive Wolves (2010).