Short Film: Our Wonderful Nature (Germany, 2008)

"Some animals were harmed during the production of this film."

A short and sweet (?) film written and directed by the Tel-Aviv-born filmmaker Tomer Eshed. Our Wonderful Nature has collected a variety of prizes, including the Leipzig DOK Festival (2008 Best German Animated Film) and the Zlín International Film Festival for Children and Youth (2008 Hermína Týrlová Award). This, the English version, is narrated by John Berwick. Our Wonderful Nature, which documents the competition of European water shrews for the right to mate with an available female, is an entertaining (and extremely short) burlesque of nature films crossed with a healthy portion of The Matrix. Tomer Eshed graduated from the Jerusalem School of Arts in 1995 and then went on to attend and graduate (in 2007) from the Konrad Wolf Academy for Film and Television in Potsdam. His latest short film, Flamingo Pride, should be out soon.