After 10 years conducting educational programs on bats with tens of thousands of participants attending our activities- including Bat Nights, we realized we lacked a tool powerful enough to reach all audiences so as to fully raise public awareness on the importance of these animals. The reach of this documentary was initially local, focusing on the bat conservation experiences conducted in Catalonia by the promoting institutions. The scope, however, has gradually grown into a worldwide review of the complex relations that occur between humans and bats, providing an unprecedented viewpoint on the subject.

To illustrate how culture, opportunity and needs mold the relations we humans hold with nature, we have elaborated an unrestrained and ambitious selection of topics. With the aim of bringing to the public those human-bat interactions that most strike us, we have put both scientific knowledge and feelings into this project

Who are we?

A team of three people lead the creation and production of this documentary. Xavier Puig (Girona, 1975), founder of the NGO Galanthus, and Carles Flaquer (Granollers, 1972), biologist at the Museum of Natural Sciences of Granollers, have worked hand in hand studying bats and educating the public on their importance. As a result of their work, in 2012 we published the book The bats of Catalonia. Jaume Sañé (Taradell, 1961), with over 1,000 samples of reportage behind him, has been cameraman, screenwriter, producer and director, and now plays an indispensable role in the documentary.

Additionally, Miqui Puig (Lavrecords) will compose the soundtrack of the documentary.

Before asking other people to believe in your project, you must believe and invest in it yourself. That’s exactly what we have done! We have invested our time and money to initiate this documentary and have taken it to its present state. There’s no way back, and we encourage you and everyone to join the project.

Why bats?

Bats remain very misunderstood in Western society where they have been demonized and too frequently associated with wicked vampires because of Bram Stoker’s famous novel Dracula (1897), the third most widely read book in English.

In truth, humans and bats live closely together in all kinds of environments where they seldom ignore each other. Bats often come into conflict with humans thus becoming especially vulnerable despite their important role as pollinators or pest controllers. Their variety, enigmatic life and worldwide distribution allow us to tackle the need to preserve nature by exploring this vulnerability.

What’s the documentary like?

The documentary is realistic and objective, dealing with the world of nature from an original perspective. The presenter visits the five continents to learn firsthand the interrelations between humans and bats: bat hospitals in Australia, vampires in Mexico, bat consumption in Indonesia, bat tourism in Texas (USA), bats and sustainability in Zambia…

Fifty minutes in length, the documentary will be translated to English, French and Spanish. A few TV channels have already shown their interest in broadcasting the final product, which will also be available on specific channels on the Internet. The premiere is scheduled for June 2015. We hope you will be there with us!

How will your contribution be spent?

Your contribution will be used to continue the filming process and shoot the two remaining chapters abroad. In Africa (to document the biggest colony of flying foxes on Earth and their relationship with the local communities in Kasanka, Zambia) and in Vietnam (to document the bat guano industry, from its local exploitation to the international marketplace).

So far the expenses of filming, creating the web platforms and editing the teasers have come to 27,000€. The contributors that have made this possible are Conseil Général des Pyrénées-Orientales, ÁLTIMA Serveis Funeraris Integrals, ATENEA Vallès Aparthotel, Celler Credo, Comité de Fomento y Salud Animal del Estado de Puebla (Mexico), and the promoting institutions (the Museum of Natural Sciences of Granollers and the Galanthus Association). Given the success we have so far enjoyed in covering the expenses and after the good reviews of the teasers, we are confident that we will be able to raise the funding needed to finish the project.

We have accomplished so much thanks to all our sponsors and our own commitment. We need one final push to complete the remaining screenplay footage and to edit the documentary. We estimate the remaining expenses for the filming outside Europe to be around 15,000€, for the edition of the final product around 10,000€ and for the translations (to English, French and Spanish) 8,000€ more.

Project calendar:

These are the steps we have so far accomplished:

February 2014 - Filming the consumption and trade of flying foxes in Sulawesi (Indonesia)

• February 2014* - Filming bat adoration by diverse cultures in Bali (Indonesia)

• February 2014* - Filming bat hospitals in Australia

August 2014 - Filming humans and vampires in Mexico

August 2014 - Filming bats and bat tourism in the USA

And this is what we will do next, partly thanks to you!!

December 2014 - Filming the effects of one of the largest biomass land migrations: the multi-million gathering of flying foxes in Kasanka, Zambia.

February 2015 - Filming the life of an entire village dedicated to extracting guano from bat caves in Vietnam, and examining the international industry behind this phenomenon.

March 2015 - Filming the industry of bat boxes, the pest control provided by bats and the social bat monitoring schemes found in Europe.

May 2015 - Completing the edition and postproduction.

June 2015 - Premiere and awarding of gifts!

+ Info

Visit the project’s blog here