About
"Karearea is a beautiful, informative and moving film, excellently presented with drama, humour and poignancy. Clearly one of the festival's top films."
Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival
"An honest and impressive documentary"
movie2movie
"A great achievement"
BBC Natural World
about

Official Selection at over 60 film festivals worldwide and winner of 27 awards including 'Best of Festival' and 'Best Cinematography' at Reel Earth Environmental Film Festival 2009.
This multi award-winning documentary, also released under the title "Chance of a Lifetime," tells the extraordinary story of how a population of wild New Zealand falcons have managed to survive in the face of fierce commercial forestry logging practices. It also tells the story of two friends - conservationist and director Sandy Crichton, and 88-year-old wildlife photographer George Chance. Bound by their mutual love and admiration for the falcons, Chance's failing health and eyesight inspires the young Crichton to capture footage of the falcons as a tribute to the latter's body of work from the 1970's. What begins as an empathetic response to fulfil a friend's final wish to see the magnificent birds on film ends up becoming the chance of a lifetime. When Crichton begins filming the falcons, he inadvertently becomes witness to new falcon behaviour, capturing a turning point in the ecological evolution of the wild birds.
In the heartfelt tradition of post-war Disney nature films, Karearea is a quietly moving story and a testament to the resilience of the animal kingdom in surviving against the odds that will keep all generations of viewers spell-bound.
This multi award-winning documentary, also released under the title "Chance of a Lifetime," tells the extraordinary story of how a population of wild New Zealand falcons have managed to survive in the face of fierce commercial forestry logging practices. It also tells the story of two friends - conservationist and director Sandy Crichton, and 88-year-old wildlife photographer George Chance. Bound by their mutual love and admiration for the falcons, Chance's failing health and eyesight inspires the young Crichton to capture footage of the falcons as a tribute to the latter's body of work from the 1970's. What begins as an empathetic response to fulfil a friend's final wish to see the magnificent birds on film ends up becoming the chance of a lifetime. When Crichton begins filming the falcons, he inadvertently becomes witness to new falcon behaviour, capturing a turning point in the ecological evolution of the wild birds.
In the heartfelt tradition of post-war Disney nature films, Karearea is a quietly moving story and a testament to the resilience of the animal kingdom in surviving against the odds that will keep all generations of viewers spell-bound.
Karearea: the pine falcon (2008)
Also known as: Chance of a Lifetime
Duration: 49 minutes
Directed by Sandy Crichton
Country of Production: New Zealand
Genre: Documentary, Nature, Wildlife, Conservation, People & Animals, Independent
Completion Date: 4 February 2008
Video Standard: PAL and NTSC
Screen Formats: 16:9 (PAL, NTSC) and 4:3 (PAL)
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Available as Digibeta, Mini DV, Uncompressed/Compressed QT or DVD for exhibition
Also known as: Chance of a Lifetime
Duration: 49 minutes
Directed by Sandy Crichton
Country of Production: New Zealand
Genre: Documentary, Nature, Wildlife, Conservation, People & Animals, Independent
Completion Date: 4 February 2008
Video Standard: PAL and NTSC
Screen Formats: 16:9 (PAL, NTSC) and 4:3 (PAL)
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Available as Digibeta, Mini DV, Uncompressed/Compressed QT or DVD for exhibition