A gibbon with light-colored fur sits high in a tree among green leaves, capturing an
A silhouette of a monkey hanging from a tree branch against a cloudy sky, resembling an
Sunlight breaks through clouds, illuminating a valley nestled among lush green mountains. Mist rises from the forested area, adding a mystical atmosphere to the serene landscape—a perfect backdrop for an ape with an app searching for love amidst nature's tranquility.
A black monkey with a white face sits on a tree branch surrounded by dense green foliage, almost like an ape with an app navigating its natural world. Sunlight filters through the canopy, casting dappled light on this serene scene as it reaches for leaves with one hand.

A Song for Love – An Ape with an App

Nature & Wildlife·1 x 50 min.·Completed

Two Skywalker Gibbons struggle to meet until a pop star and professor create a high-tech "dating app" to connect them. Their duet could save the species in China's Gaoligong Mountains.

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Genre
Conservation
Nature & Wildlife
Science
Duration
1 × 50 min.
Definition
4K
Audio
5.1
Status
Completed
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Synopsis

Two wild gibbons have a professor and a pop star to act as high-tech matchmakers! The story is of spectacular wildlife and is as dramatic as any opera. Our young would-be lovers are Skywalker Gibbons, a new species announced in 2017, and an ape like us. There are only a handful left, scattered in the spectacular Gaoligong Mountains on the China-Myanmar border.

A gibbon’s life revolves around song, and their calls can be heard for miles. A lone female sings across the jungle in the hope of winning a life-long partner. A single male lives twenty miles away – but they can’t find each other over the huge terrain. It’s a crisis for a new and important species – and calls for an extreme solution. Because without them singing a duet across a valley, they will never become a couple.

It started as a crazy idea from a Beijing pop star and the leader of the research team on Skywalker Gibbons. Musician Xingyu Lee and Professor Fan have designed and built a system to allow gibbons to sing together. Speakers and microphones connect two locations, and the gibbons now can sing to each other. In human terms, they have an effective dating app – and it has the gibbon scientists of the world buzzing.

But there are many practical problems to overcome. Poachers and impoverished farmers live here, and, amazingly, Fan enlists them to help, alongside local park rangers, city tech companies and international conservationists.

Professor Fan is determined to make an all-wild match. In a first attempt, he hooks up a wild pair by telephone. They duet, and as the gibbons search for each other, drawn by their songs, Fan and the rangers move the speakers, and guide the gibbons through the jungle maze until they are within natural earshot.

Thanks to a dating app and a wild love song down the telephone, the two Skywalker Gibbons are now about to meet – a match that could determine the future of a species.

With this exclusive access to the Skywalker Gibbons in the wild, this film sports never-before-seen behaviour of the existing Skywalker families as well as the bachelors and bachelorettes amongst the gibbons. Two hard years of filming work paint a vivid picture of the gibbons in the wild; of their hardships and triumphs, and last but not least of all the amazing wildlife this patch of China has to offer: hornbills, charismatic red pandas and other species of gibbons racing through the canopy.

Team

Produced by Olivia Chan and Mark Fletcher
Executive producers Ivo Filatsch, Sabine Holzer
Production Companies A co-production of Terra Mater Factual Studios, Mark Fletcher Productions and Colorful Nature Films

Awards & Recognitions

New York, USA New York Festivals TV & Media Awards Silver World Medal (Category: Nature & Wildlife) 2021
New York, USA New York Festivals TV & Media Awards Bronze World Medal (Category: Best Original Music/Lyrics) 2021
Gödöllö, Hungary International Nature Film Festival Gödöllö 2nd Place (Category: International Film Review - Nature Films) 2021
Olomouc, Czech Republic AFO Academia Film Olomouc Official Selection (Category: International Competition) 2021
Cannes, France Cannes Corporate Media & TV Awards Silver Dolphin (Category: Nature & Wildlife) 2020
Ludwigsburg, Germany NaturVision Filmfestival Best Story 2020
Deauville, France Deauville Green Awards Special Prize (Category: Best Song) 2020
Redondo Beach, USA US International Film & Video Festival Silver Screen (Category: Nature, Wildlife) 2020
Graz, Austria Mountainfilm Internationales Filmfestival Graz Nomination (Category: Nature & Environment) 2020
Namur, Belgium FINN - Festival International Nature Namur Official Selection 2020
Halle, Germany SILBERSALZ Science & Media Festival Finalist (Category: Young Audience Award) 2020
Jackson Hole, USA Jackson Wild Media Awards Finalist (Category: Best Original Music Score) 2020
Lihula, Estonia MAFF - Matsalu Nature Film Festival Finalist 2020
Innsbruck, Austria INFF - Innsbruck Nature Film Festival Nomination (Category: Vision Award) 2020
Eckernförde, Germany Green Screen - Internationales Naturfilmfestival Eckernförde Nomination (Category: Best Science Film) 2020
UN HQ, USA World Wildlife Day Film Showcase: Biodiversity Finalist (Category: Science, Innovation & Exploration) 2020
Missoula, USA IWFF - International Wildlife Film Festival Finalist (Category: Wildlife Conservation) 2020
Cannes, France MIPTV Factual Content Showcase's Selection Official Selection (Category: Nature & Wildlife) 2020
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