Flying with Eagles

Director & Producer: Anton Gammelgaard 
Produced by: DR & Paravision
Duration: 28.30 min. & 45 min.
Year of Production: 2006
Original Title: Flyver Med Ørne

Winner of: 1st Prize, Festival International Du Film de Vol Libre. 

Flying with Eagles documents Louise Crandal's attempt to fly like an eagle. An attempt which takes the trainer athlete relationship to new levels.

Louise knows that far up there in the skies, the greatest teacher of them all holds sway: the king of the birds. The eagle. If only she could get close to it, fly with it and learn from it!

First she needs to find a suitable bird, and then the two of them will embark on a long training process with the help of Falconer Hans Nielsen. Nielsen knows as much about training birds of prey as Louise Crandal knows about paragliding. Together they have what it takes to make their ambitious project succeed.

We follow their fascinating efforts with the eagle; first as singles, later as a pair. We follow the intense, unpredictable training process from the day they find Cossack, the untrained Steppe Eagle, in Scotland, to a few months later as they hang from a paraglider above Lake Como. Cossack is ready to show off his tricks.

The question is whether Cossack is capable of serving as a teacher for Louise Crandal. Will he fly with her? Will he show her where the thermals are, and how to gain height without as much as a beat of his wings? The question is whether Cossack is capable of serving as a teacher for Louise Crandal. Will he fly with her? Will he show her where the thermals are, and how to gain height without as much as a beat of his wings?