Saga of the Ancient Forest. Part IX: The Tale of a Pygmy Owl. The Right of a Predator 

Duration: 52’ 00”   
Original format: 16:9 SD
Format after the revitalization: 16: 9 HD
Sound: 5.1, 2.0

Series idea, screenplay and direction: Bożena Walencik, Jan Walencik
Cinematography: Jan Walencik
Assistants: Bogusław Chyła, Andrzej Muśko
Sound: Bożena Walencik, Jan Walencik
Sound effects: Jan Walencik
Narrator’s tale: Bożena Walencik, Jan Walencik
Narrator: Krzysztof Gosztyła
Music: Michał Lorenc
Orchestration: Tadeusz Karolak, Michał Lorenc
Performing music: Polish Radio Orchestra, Marek Wroński Orchestra, Michał Lorenc
Conductor: Tadeusz Karolak
Soloist: Mohammad Rasouli – ney flute
Recording and ripping music: Rafał Paczkowski
Music consultation: Małgorzata Przedpełska-Bieniek
Image and sound editing: Bożena Walencik, Jan Walencik
Assembly cooperation: Maciej Walencik
Image post-production: The Chimney Pot, Jędrzej Sabliński – Producer, Edyta Sęk, Zofia Bieńkowska – Production organization, Łukasz Huptyś, Piotr Sasim – Color correction, Wiktor Sasim – Negative transfer, Andrzej Kowalski – On-line assembly, Paweł Falkowski – Credits
Sound post-production: Supra Film Zbigniew Malecki – Sound realization and development
Collaboration: Andrzej Kowal – Technology coordination
Production organization: Krzysztof Komar
Collaboration: Jerzy Jakutowicz
Laboratory: Documentary and Feature Film Studio in Warsaw
Negative: Kodak Vision Super 16
Animal breeding: Bożena Walencik, Jan Walencik. Krzysztof Komar
Collaboration: Dariusz Poznański, Marcin Chrapowicki
Balloon pilot: Jerzy Czerniawski
Powered hang glider pilot: Zbigniew Kędziora
Co-operation: Białowieża National Park, Ministry of Education
Lead Editor: Ewa Chrabąszcz-Smoczyńska

Cast:
In a starring role: Zjawa (Phantom), female pygmy owl
Moonshiner: Eugeniusz Parchotik
Hunters: Tomasz Werkowski, Sergiusz Buszko, Włodzimierz Piekacz, Jerzy Glad, Andrzej Sieńczuk, Jan Ptaszyński
Beaters on the hunt: Jerzy Gwaj, Marek Glad, Jacek Werkowski, Karol Bajko

The authors would like to thank the following for their help in making the film: employees of the Białowieża National Park, Białowieża Forest District, Hajnówka Forest District, Browsk Forest District, Department of Mammal Research of the Polish Academy of Sciences in Białowieża and Eugeniusz Pugacewicz, Karol Zub, Andrzejo G. Kruszewicz, Jerzy Pańkowski, Wojciech Misiukiewicz, Wildlife Park in Kadzidłowo. Special thanks to Zofia Żukowska

Production: Film Agency for Program 1 of TVP S.A.
Lead time: 2000–2008
End of production: 2008 (end of series production: 2009)
Revitalization to HD: 2015–2016
Premiere: 09.12.2010

Frames from the film (QUOTES).

For years since I started filming, this thought has been torturing me: What does it feel like to be a wild animal? A wolf, raven, bison, beaver, or ant? To overstep the boundaries of feeling of man and animal. To find in myself the purest ability to see, hear, and feel. Unafraid of the wildness of the forest, to feel being its part, the unbridled wildness.

QUOTE. Excerpt from the film Saga of the Ancient Forest. Part IX: The Tale of a Pygmy Owl. The Right of a Predator. Directed by Bożena Walencik, Jan Walencik. Source: TVP

SHE is a predator – an owl the size of a sparrow. SHE kills small birds and rodents. To feed as many as eight young, SHE hunts in twos, as SHE was suddenly left without a mate. Hardly experienced, SHE single-handedly heroically takes care of HER offspring. However, someone appears… Also a predator.