Ghost Bird
Theatrical release: September 10, 2010 A release for Matson FilmsSet in a murky swamp peopled with birders, ornithologists, gawkers and politicians, Ghost Bird explores the limits of certainty, the obsessive power of hope, and how one phantom giant woodpecker changed a sleepy Southern town forever.
This thrilling eco-noir investigates the strange but true story of a small town in Arkansas overrun by a nation of birders all searching for the Holy Grail with wings – the Ivory-billed woodpecker. Presumed extinct for over half a century, the giant bird was seen flying through nearby swamps by scientists who finally announced its rediscovery in 2005.
Despite years of searching, the bird’s fate remains a mystery. This witty, intelligent documentary brings the Ivory-bill’s rediscovery into focus, revealing our uneasy relationship with nature and the increasing uncertainty of our place within it.
Soundtrack features The White Stripes, The Pixies, The Black Keyes, and The Black Heart Procession
"Ghost Bird considers the ways in which collegial debate, intellectual rigor, and a collective desire for objective truth are in danger of extinction."Art Forum
"By turns comic, mesmerizing and deeply poignant, this investigative documentary is reminiscent of the work of Errol Morris in the way it cast a spell while telling a story and building a case."Macleans
"Thanks to Scott Crocker's crisply edited balance of scientific bacbiting, naturalist noodling and macro-philosophizing...what could have been a niche-specific doc becomes something oddly compelling."Time Out New York
"Crocker...has fashioned an eco-doc that acknowledges the complexity of conservation issues without diluting its own activist stance...Ghost Bird has teeth."Box Office