A Birder's Guide to Everything
Sloan Foundation Film
Release Date
2013
Film Synopsis
Teenaged birding fanatic David Portnoy takes an epic road trip with his best friends to solidify their place in birding history.
Teenaged birding fanatic David Portnoy (Kodi Smit-McPhee) thinks he's made the discovery of a lifetime. On the eve of his widower father's second wedding, David spots what may just be the extinct Labrador duck. After consulting with a famous local ornithologist, Lawrence Konrad (Ben Kingsley), he and the two other stalwart members of the local Young Birders Society (Michael Chen, Alex Wolff), joined by their headstrong photographer classmate Ellen (Katie Chang), take off on a rollicking, interstate road trip in search of a rare bird and elusive answers to teenage questions large and small.
Possible Topics
- Citizen science: How scientists and conservationists use amateur birdwatchers’ sightings
- Birds in peril and biodiversity
- How ducks and other birds communicate
- The evolution of birds
Past Programs
2014
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline, MA
Coral Gables Art Cinema, Coral Gables, FL
2015
Civic Theatre of Allentown, Allentown, PA
2016
Juneau Underground Motion Picture Society and Gold Town Theater, Juneau, AK
2017
Bozeman Film Society, Bozeman, MT
Wilmette Theatre, Wilmette, IL
Images Cinema, Williamstown, MA
2020
The Lindsay Theater and Cultural Center, Sewickley, PA
2021
Dietrich Theater, Tunkhannock, PA
California Film Institute, San Rafael, CA
Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
2022
Ross Ragland Theater, Klamath Falls, OR
Rosendale Theatre Collective, Rosendale, NY
Cinema Detroit, Detroit, MI
Martha's Vineyard Film Society, Tisbury, MA
2024
Science Moab, Moab, UT