ACID FOREST

On the Lithuanian part of the Curonian Spit, a narrow band of sand separating the Baltic Sea from the Curonian Lagoon, hordes of cormorants have taken over. Their acidic guano has transformed an ancient coniferous forest into a wasteland. A lookout lets tourists admire the place, an environmental paradox. The filmmaker observes from this vantage point, but often from the cormorants’ perspective. Amid a deafening chorus of squawks, visitors ponder ecology, migration, overpopulation and even the nefarious intentions of the Hitchcockian invaders. These varied and sometimes farfetched musings on the bird colony humorously expose the incongruity of human preoccupations. Are we really sure which species is the invasive one?