The Long Flight to Teach an Endangered Ibis Species to Migrate

That summer, Schiffman, who had recently made a documentary for National Geographic about relocating giraffes, read a story in the Times about Fritz, the Waldrapp project (Waldrapp is the German term for the species), and the first migration to Spain. Schiffman’s father was an I.T./A.V. technician who’d done some work for Matt Damon. Damon and Ben Affleck have a production company called Artists Equity, which agreed to fund a trip to Spain. Schiffman caught up with the migration outside Roquetes. His mind was blown: “Are you kidding me? I can’t believe this works!” Eventually, Fritz agreed to collaborate with Schiffman, Artists Equity, and a co-producer, Insignia Films. (Later, Sandbox Films and Fifth Season signed on, too.) Now Schiffman had to figure out how to shoot a subject he couldn’t get close to. For the chicks’ nursery, in a shipping container, Schiffman and his team devised a wall with one-way soundproofed glass—each nest in its own stage-lit box—and found an Austrian glassm ... Read full article.