A majestic tiger lies on a rock, its striking orange and black fur contrasting with the winter forest's bare trees. The tiger's gaze is directed forward, highlighting its white chest. Dry leaves cling to the branches around this mesmerizing predator.
Two men walking through a snowy forest path. One, in a green jacket and hat, peers through binoculars as if searching for a tiger, while the other, clad in black, captures the moment with his camera. Bare trees surround them under a clear sky.
A person sits on snow in a forest, using a laptop. They're wearing winter clothing and a beanie with a tiger pattern. A large green backpack and other gear are nearby. Bare trees surround them, and the ground is covered in snow.

Hunt for the Russian Tiger

Conservation·1 x 53 min·Completed

Follow filmmaker Sooyong Park's five-year quest to film Siberian tigers, capturing their private lives and incredible survival in the wild.

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Genre
Conservation
Nature & Wildlife
Duration
1 × 53 min
Definition
HD
Audio
5.1
Status
Completed
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Synopsis

Over five years of loneliness and danger one man waited to glimpse Siberian Tigers, whose intimate private lives had never been filmed before. Finding a Siberian tiger in the wild is a huge challenge. The terrain is tough and their territories are vast, over a thousand square miles. Yet filmmaker Sooyong Park emerged from the frozen forests of Russia’s Far East with a unique record of over one thousand hours of tiger life. Biologist Chris Morgan knows North American carnivores, but the tigers inhabit a lawless land of bears and poachers. Now Chris reveals an amazing story of endurance as Park takes him to search for the elusive big cats.

To succeed, Park went to astonishing extremes. The cameraman left his wife and children behind in Korea. He found the valleys with the most prey and dug a four-foot hole in the ground. Over the five years he watched and waited, existing on three packs of rice a day. He sometimes sat for weeks on end before the first tiger even showed up, and endured temperatures that can freeze eyelids shut. Park never left his hide for months at a time, even to go to the bathroom. His muscles wasted until he could barely walk. And even though his cameras were primitive, his footage of a mother and cubs just inches away is unparalleled.

Park followed three generations of one tiger family. They gave him his greatest moments – and most chilling encounters. One tigress and her cubs attacked his hide. With three tigers on the roof, the planks broke. They could have killed him, but their mother led her young away: she let Park live. He got to know individuals and even gave them names: Snow White, her cubs Hansel and Gretel. Following tracks to the farthest border of the tigers’ domain, Park even got to the Pacific Ocean, where he captured them stalking the cliff-top ridges. The cameraman obtained shots of a tiger scanning the Pacific Coast that had never been seen before. And throughout his final winter, Park was able to film Hansel and Gretel repeatedly as the cubs learned and grew.

To relive Park’s encounters, Chris builds a tree stand deep in the forest. He stays there without Park to really sense what the lone cameraman went through. Copying the Korean’s methods he uses a hot spring as bait for his own camera traps. In his last week, he retraces his steps, collecting the ten he has put out. Finally he starts to grasp what inspired Park – the power of the hope that a tiger would appear. If the cubs Hansel and Gretel have avoided the poachers’ traps, today they would be in their prime. Will they ever be seen again?

Team

Written and directed by Mike Birkhead
Executive producers Ivo Filatsch, Sabine Holzer
Production companies Produced by Mike Birkhead Associates for Terra Mater Factual Studios in co-production with Thirteen WNET/New York

Awards & Recognitions

Rotterdam, Netherlands Wildlife Film Festival Rotterdam Official Selection 2015
Deauville, France Deauville Green Awards Prize for Documentary Films in Eco-Tourism and Biodiversity 2013
New York, USA Emmy® Awards Outstanding Nature Programming 2013
Missoula, USA IWFF International Wildlife Film Festival Best Cinematography (a tie) 2013
Missoula, USA IWFF International Wildlife Film Festival 2013 Best in Category: Presenter/Host 2013
Missoula, USA IWFF International Wildlife Film Festival 2013 Best in Category: Human/Wildlife Interaction 2013
Tokyo, Japan Japan Wildlife Film Festival Outstanding Contribution to Wildlife Filmmaking Award 2013
Lihula, Estonia Matsalu International Nature Film Festival Nomination 2013
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