As part of an internship in partnership with the CNRS of Poitiers, three students are making an animal documentary in Cruzy. It will be broadcast on September 21.
Quentin Zinzius, Virginie Bazeilles and Malou Dutheil are passionate about animals, all three of them study at the French-speaking Animal Cinema Training Institute (IFFCAM, see below) and are gathered in Cruzy for a month. But what are they doing in this small village, very close to Béziers.
“We were commissioned by a paleontologist from the CNRS of Poitiers, Gildas Merceron, to produce a cross-portrait of the fauna and flora that can be found in the department of Hérault and on the excavation sites present in Cruzy ,” explains Quentin Zinzius, the project manager.
“Protect what we have today”
“We started on two axes, continues his comrade Malou Dutheil. First of all, to show that the whole village is getting involved, there is a lot of activity on the part of the locals, which adds real added value to life, with a lot of mediation around the museum here. Then we want to highlight that the only difference between the fauna of before and today is time. This temporal dimension, which we show with the excavation sites, proves that it is important to protect what we have today. We wish to reveal that this did not happen in the blink of an eye, there is a real link between past historical natural heritage and the present.”
The Cruzy excavation sites contain a very rich heritage. Last February, the skeleton of a titanosaur was discovered there. The place was therefore not chosen by chance by Gildas Merceron, the internship supervisor of the three students. “Il comes to the sites of Cruzy and Montredon to look for traces of a large primate which would have existed in the Miocene era, says Virginie Bazeille. He has been coming back for about fifteen years. He has a real passion for ornithology, he has spotted some interesting species to film so we are aware of a real biological richness here.”
First broadcast on September 21
Since their arrival, these three students have been filming the animals present on the excavation sites, as well as in the village of Cruzy. “Our ddocumentary will last 26 minutes, this is what we had agreed with our supervisor, explains Quentin Zinzius. But as we have accumulated a lot of material, we want to try to extend it to 52 minutes.“
They filmed a lot of different species. “We have seen martens, squirrels, hares, wild rabbits, some amphibians and many species of birds, notably an eagle owl, the largest nocturnal bird of prey in Europe, which is a protected species,” rejoices Malou Dutheil.
The first official broadcast of the documentary will take place on September 21*, during the heritage days in Cruzy. And we will see the Cruzyates appear there. “We want to leave a part of our documentary to the village of Cruzy, which has a very, very strong link with paleontology and wild animals,” advances Quentin Zinzius.
What is IFFCAM?
IFFCAM, the French-speaking wildlife cinema training institute, has been training the young generation of wildlife documentarians and professionals and enthusiasts who wish to develop their skills in shooting “nature” images since 2004.
“It is the only training of the style in Europe, Quentin Zinzius says. We don’t just learn to make documentaries, it can also be fiction.“We are taught to film nature without disturbing it, completes Virginie Bazeille. Not to use animal actors. There is a very regulated ethic, which aims at minimal disturbance of fauna and flora, with a strong consideration of ecology.”
