Into the Forest Amphibian Nature Documentary

Watch “Into the Forest” on Amazon Prime

I spent 2018 filming and editing my latest nature documentary “Into the Forest”, and it’s now live on Amazon Prime available to watch for free in both English and German versions. Into the Forest tells the story of the native wildlife in the forests of southwest Germany, particularly the reptiles and amphibians. It’s won best documentary at 2 film festivals so far. It documents the forest creatures as they emerge from Winter, struggle to mate and feed, and flourish into summer. Animals filmed exist in the macrosphere like the plankton in forest puddles, to the formidable Wild Boar, and many characters in between. Into the Forest particularly focuses on the Fire Salamander and its mortal struggle with the Bsal fungus that threatens its existence in Europe.

Into the Forest is told as a fable, and is a marriage between folklore and scientific documentary. A backdrop of medieval German villages, and lush deciduous forest creates a mystical realm in which the lives of the forest animals unfold. I filmed Into the Forest over 90 days from March to June in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. I filmed in several small forests near the city of Stuttgart, including Denkendorf Alter Aichwald, Naturpark Schönbuch, Silberwald and Wurmlingen/Rottenburg. One segment was filmed on the Isle of Krk, Croatia. The story-line is portrayed as a single forest, and is based on the Alter Aichwald of Denkendorf that I explored as a child. Video elements include aerial drone footage, underwater, timelapse, extreme-macro, and night. Into the Forest is an independently funded and produced film by Wilderness Media LLC/Bryan Maltais.