Parents in the Wild - Mating Games and Birth Days, 52min., Germany
Directed by Moritz Mayerle, Annette Scheurich
In this film, directors Annette Scheurich and Moritz Mayerle offer a captivating glimpse into the love lives of Parents in the Wild worldwide. Highlighting the universal goal of providing offspring a strong start, the film explores the diverse mating and nesting rituals of mammals, insects, and birds, celebrating the intricate dance of love in the heart of the wilderness. Spectacular images showcase also the birth of squirrels, a grey seal pup and a flying fox fighting gravity in its upside-down world. "Parents in the Wild" is an entertaining visual feast that invites audiences to connect with the profound moments of wild parents in their quest for species conservation.

Get to know filmmakers Moritz Mayerle, Annette Scheurich:

1. What motivated you to make this film?
Annette Scheurich:
In my career as a filmmaker of documentaries about wildlife and nature I often marveled at the many strategies animals developed to make sure the species survive. Some invest in an enormous amount of progeny in the hope that some survive. Like toads, snails, spiders, etc. Others, like elephants, seals, deer, squirrels, flying foxes, weaver birds or penguins only have very few young and put all their effort in preparing for a safe place before birth and/or in protecting them for a longer time after birth, until they are ready to fend for themselves. My intention was to show all this from the perspective of the parents, pointing out to which lengths parents go to make sure their offspring get a good start. Any similarities to human behaviour are unintentional or purely coincidental 😉
Moritz Mayerle:
As a biologist, I have always been fascinated by the diverse reproductive strategies found in nature. Whether mammals, birds, or insects – each species follows its own unique approach to bringing offspring into the world. Yet, they all share one thing: the incredible effort they put into it. This combination of unconditional dedication from animal parents, paired with astonishing behaviors, is what makes this film so compelling to me.

2. From the idea to the finished product, how long did it take for you to make this film?
Annette Scheurich:
From the acceptance by the broadcaster to the finished product took about 3 years. Once we started deeper research, ever more astonishing information came up and brought new aspects to the theme.
Moritz Mayerle:
It was an incredibly long, instructive and fascinating time. All in all, it took almost three years to complete the two-parter.

3. How would you describe your film in two words!?
Annette Scheurich: Passion and Perseverance
Moritz Mayerle: Passion and dedication

4. What was the biggest obstacle you faced in completing this film?
Annette Scheurich:
The biggest obstacle was to create a storyline out of the many different stories round about parents’ care for their young. There is so much fascinating behaviour we wanted to have in the film, but only had time for so much episodes. Choosing which parents get a window and balancing the variety of the different strategies was a real struggle. And then is also was a matter of capturing this behaviour. The camera teams out die themselves in delivering the footage that made our storytelling possible.
Moritz Mayerle:
For me personally, the biggest challenge was to accept that although we were able to capture incredible and diverse animal behavior with the camera, we would never be able to capture the full range of reproductive strategies in the animal kingdom. Nature is simply far too diverse to be able to show everything in 2x52 minutes. As a biologist, however, it was important to me to show as wide a range of different strategies as possible and to tell exciting animal stories at the same time. All in all, I think we succeeded in doing that.

5. What were your initial reactions when watching the audience talking about your film in the feedback video?
Annette Scheurich:
I’m so happy about the feedback as it showed that our fascination with this theme and our hard work putting it together was well received, the audience liked it and was intrigued by it as well.
Moritz Mayerle:
It was fascinating to see how the movie was received by the audience. I was very pleased that much of what we wanted to achieve with the film - to arouse fascination for reproduction in all its facets - was also well received by the audience. And I was also very pleased that the camera work was praised by many viewers - a big thank you to our great camera women and men.

6. When did you realize that you wanted to make films?
Annette Scheurich:
I always wanted to work in the nature and science genre and many years ago, my husband and I were passionate about filming in the wild and started to make nature documentaries. Some 200 films later (as writer, director, producer – sometimes all three together), I’m finally rather sure, it was the right choice of career and I’m very happy to still be able to create nature documentaries.
Moritz Mayerle:
Becoming an wildlife filmmaker was a childhood dream of mine. Now I'm not behind the camera, but as a writer and director I'm living this dream.

7. What film have you seen the most in your life?
Annette Scheurich:
No idea. Sorry.
Moritz Mayerle:
To be honest, it's not an nature documentary at all. “Gladiator” with Russel Crowe and Joaquin Phoenix should be right up there.

8. What other elements of the festival experience can we and other festivals implement to satisfy you and help you further your filmmaking career?
Annette Scheurich: Hmmm, I really don’t know. For me this is a new concept so I’m very happy about the experience and will watch the festival further.
Moritz Mayerle:
I can't really answer that. So far I've only ever attended German wildlife film festivals in person, but I would be very happy to attend the New York FEEDBACK Film & Screenplay Festival some day.

9. You submitted to the festival via FilmFreeway. How has your experiences been working on the festival platform site?
Annette Scheurich:
Here also I don’t have much experience and I haven’t had much time to go through the platform site. It seems to me a fascinating concept where your audience is directly involved and not only remote and anonymous.
Moritz Mayerle:
There are really many festivals represented on FilmFreeway, including wildlife and nature film festivals. The platform is clearly organized and the submission process is simple. FilmFreewaya really saves you a lot of time.

10. What is your favorite meal?
Annette Scheurich: German rye bread rolls and butter
Moritz Mayerle: Käsespätzle – German Pasta with cheese.

11. What is next for you? A new film?
Annette Scheurich: I’m producing a science documentary about wastewater recycling
Moritz Mayerle:
I am currently working on a four-part nature documentary about our beautiful neighboring country, Switzerland.