Hana Novakovadocumentarian and ethnozoologist, says she first became obsessed with (in her words) moose when a remarkable event occurred in the Czech Republic.
“It all started in 2003, when I first heard the story of the incredible spontaneous return of the moose population to my homeland, the Czech Republic, after 500 years of extinction here,” she says. Diversity.
Five years later, while studying at Prague's revered film school FAMU, her interest remains undiminished, leading her, after a tortuous but persistent path, to the world premiere of Excited this week in the Czech Joy section of the Ji.hlava doc festival.
Determination was indeed necessary: Sponsors weren't too receptive to her offers, Novakova says, and COVID lockdowns were on the horizon, preventing her from filming abroad.
“Again, the subsequent diplomatic crisis between the Czech Republic and Russia in 2021, as well as the war that Russia started a year later, made further filming in Russia impossible.”
With moose sightings still extremely rare in the Czech Republic, Novakova found a Russian nature reserve in the Kostroma region where the majestic ungulates were raised (and which had once served as a missile defense site).
“The first time I was able to see moose in the wild was in Russia, at a taming station where they were allowed to roam freely.”
The Russian team also managed to find a way to obtain milk from moose by exposing them to humans at birth rather than letting their mothers raise them.
She visited the area in 2016 and recorded some material that was later used on “Amoosed,” but the expedition was intended more as a reconnaissance trip, she says.
But because of the war, her plans to return years later were in doubt.
“This forced us to use a lot more intelligence material than we had planned.”
After spending at least a decade making the film, including subsequent trips to Nova Scotia, where the indigenous Mi'kmaq people helped Novakova reach local moose, the director gradually accumulated more material – and it was enough to overcome the setbacks.
“I can’t count the time I spent on this anymore,” Novakova says. “I'm just trying to see making this film as part of my personal evolution as a person, no matter how pretentious it may sound.”
According to her, Novakova's experience as a scientist helped her find a structure for her quest story.
“First I introduce my childhood hero, the classical zoologist. When other scientists, such as the Russian laser physicist, come onto the scene, it becomes clear that in order to fully understand the mystery of the moose, a person needs something more and unusual than just a diploma in zoology.”
Novakova said the key was to focus on more important issues and maintain perspective.
“I realized that I really needed to let go and wait patiently, going where the animal was trying to get me—that was Nova Scotia, Canada, and meeting Cheryl, the Mi'kmaq matriarch, was kind of life-changing for me.”
Novakova underwent a ritual cleansing with herbal smoke before being invited into the wilderness for filming. Cheryl told her that her project captured “special animal omens.” The Elk community seemed okay with “Amoosed.”
Of course, the moose also makes for a complex and mysterious central character. It seems many questions about his life in the wild are still not fully answered. But over the past years, a lot has been learned, including at least two interesting facts, Novakova says.
First, sometimes one moose migrates but another from the same region does not. According to Novakova, this may well depend on the nature of the animal.
Secondly, their diet is so varied, eating a wide variety of plants, that keeping them healthy in captivity, even with a nutritious diet, has proven “almost impossible.”
“The only mystery to me is why do we still continue to do this? Would we do this to a person if we knew all the facts? Of course not.”
“The message I want to convey is extremely positive,” says Novakova. “I think animals can be our most wonderful teachers, who can even lead us out of the crisis of disconnection from our Mother Earth and from ourselves, if we are willing to follow them and listen to them.”
“Excited”
Courtesy of LaDamplinka
