The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill

Mark Bittner lives rent-free in a small cottage on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. He has no steady job. One day he starts looking after the flock of feral parrots that live on the hill. He feeds them, tends the ones that fall ill, and names them one by one. In time he learns that each of the birds has a character of its own. Judy Irving's documentary starts out like a film about birds and goes somewhere else: its real subject is a person finding meaning in his life. Irving shot and edited it herself. The documentary became an unexpected box-office success in the United States and stands among the highest-grossing documentaries released in cinemas. The tone is warm and never didactic.