Dangerously Close

After the tragic death of the 26-year-old jogger Andrea Papi, the rangers around Claudio and Roberto feverishly embark on the hunt for the "trouble bear" JJ4. But as fear of bears grows, the conflict between animal rights activists and bear opponents escalates, and sensitive questions arise. Should JJ4 be killed? And: who owns the forest and nature?

Year

2024

Length

93 min

Director

Andreas Pichler

Nowhere else in the world do bears and humans live in such close proximity as in Trentino, near Lake Garda. But with the growing number of bears, dangerous encounters between humans and animals are also increasing.

The 20-member team of foresters and veterinarians responsible for the protection of people and animals has a particularly important task.

When 26-year-old Andrea Papi is found dead in the forest during Easter 2023, the sad suspicion quickly arises: Papi was killed by the bear JJ4. It is the first death by a wild animal in Central Europe in recent history. While the foresters try to capture the “trouble bear” JJ4, the conflict between animal rights activists and bear opponents escalates definitively. This raises pressing questions: Should JJ4 be killed? How do we deal with the return of large predators to our forests? When do bears become “trouble bears”? And: who owns the forest and nature?

Credits

Directed by
Andreas Pichler

Written by
Andreas Pichler
Georg Tschurtschenthaler

Director of Photography
Daniel Mazza

Edited by
Johannes Hiroshi Nakajima BFS
Beatrice Segolini

Music by
Henning Fuchs

Postproduction supervisor
Xavier Agudo

Archive Supervisor
Moritz Conrad

Producer
Yara Hueck Costa

Produced by
Georg Tschurtschenthaler
Andreas Pichler
Christian Beetz

Executive Producer
Kathrin Isberner

Executive Producer sky
Christian Asanger
Felix Kempter

Commissioning Editors
Petra Felber (BR)
Johanna Teichmann (BR)
Matthias Leybrand (BR)
Antje Stamer (SWR)

Sales & distribution

Trailer

„Just in diesem Moment überraschen uns die aus dem Theaterbereich stammenden jungen Regisseure Hans Block und Moritz Riesewieck mit einem erstaunlichen Dokumentarfilm, der seit Monaten Publikum und Kritik auf den wichtigsten Festivals der Welt elektrisiert. Völlig zu Recht: Es ist, als würden einem die Scheuklappen weggerissen, als sähe man das, was sich seit Jahren direkt vor unseren Augen abspielt, zum ersten Mal unverschleiert... eine fesselnde ,Doku noir' mit höchstem Anspruch...Dieser Film müsste an allen Schulen gezeigt werden.“

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung

17.05.2018