At the Movies   / Big Cats

Chasing Big Cats

Comments: This is the PBS version of the BBC's Five Big Cats and a Camera. It's one of the best and most entertaining Big Cat documentaries I've seen. It does have moments of the filmmakers discussing their 14 years long project, but they don't pretend to add drama to the proceedings. They seem humble and genuinely amazed at the footage they are getting.

Along with Dereck and Beverly Joubert, I think Owen Newman and Amanda Barrett are two of the best and most creative Big Cat filmmakers working today.

Summary: This 14-year retrospective of the work of Owen Newman and Amanda Barrett features the two filmmakers talking about how they managed to capture never-before-seen footage of big cats, including some that had been written off as impossible to film. To these two filmmakers, "impossible" was just a challenge to overcome. Driving into the night, armed with night goggles, infrared lights and cameras, they were the first to film leopards at night, uncovering a whole array of behavior that was new to science and filmmakers alike.

Two other cats, servals and caracals, only glimpsed in passing by other filmmakers, became newly discovered stars of their own films. With captivating stories and characters, Newman and Barrett were able to transform lions from big cats everyone thought they knew into individuals with personalities, griefs, and grudges.