Ghost Bird is a feature length documentary about an extinct giant woodpecker, a small town In Arkansas hoping to reverse it misfortunes, and the tireless odyssey of the bird-watchers and scientists searching for the Holy Grail of birds, the elusive Ivory-billed woodpecker.
The New York Times calls Ghost Bird "a witty, wistful documentary (that turns) a bird-watching tale into a multilayered story that will fascinate practically everybody."
In 2005 scientists announced that the Ivory-billed woodpecker, thought to be extinct for 60 years, was spotted in the swamps of Eastern Arkansas. Suddenly the swamps were flooded with ornithologists, birders and millions of government dollars, and the struggling nearby town of Brinkley discovered a promotional edge.
However, credible evidence of the woodpecker's actual existence has been elusive, and the film balances the testimony (pro and con) of prominent scientists and bird experts with an examination of the seductive power of hope and investigation into the politics of our uneasy relationship with nature.
