NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO PROGRAMS
"Nature Films: Going For The Kill"
For many of us, nature films on television are as close as we're ever going to get to wild places like the Serengeti Plain, Denali National Park, or the Great Barrier Reef. We trust that the filmmakers who travel to these places will bring back an entertaining - and accurate - portrait of what they find. After all, we call them "documentaries." But, more and more, broadcasters are questioning whether a "faithful rendition" of nature is the best way to attract audiences. And filmmakers are left wondering how well their films really reflect nature. As producer Guy Hand found, the questions go to the very nature of nature television.