Against the backdrop of a global pandemic and the sixth mass extinction, a team of women biologists set out to save a North American bat species from a deadly fungal disease called White-nose Syndrome (WNS). As the disease reaches the far corners of the continent, a global pandemic attributed to a bat species in China interrupts their project, their jobs, and their commitment to protect bat species, no matter the odds.
Thanks to our donors and supporters, we have filmed across North America from summer 2019 to the present. We will begin post-production in October 2022. We hope to release the film in early 2024. Please support our GoFundMe campaign! We could still use support to continue post-production (editing, music composition, graphic design, sound design and color correction).
The Invisible Mammal is directed by award-winning filmmaker, Kristin Tieche. Kristin has been passionate about bats since she attended graduate school in Syracuse, New York. She has edited films and series that aired on National Geographic, Smithsonian Channel, Science Channel, PBS, and more. Her independent short films include Forms of Identification (2011), The Spinster (2013) and Velo Visionaries (2015-2017). Credits as producer and editor include Sundance Audience Award winner Fuel (2008), Power Paths (2009), and Love Thy Nature (2014). Kristin holds a Master of Arts in Television, Radio and Film from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, where she received awards in screenwriting and sound design from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
Thanks to our donors and supporters, we have filmed across North America from summer 2019 to the present. We will begin post-production in October 2022. We hope to release the film in early 2024. Please support our GoFundMe campaign! We could still use support to continue post-production (editing, music composition, graphic design, sound design and color correction).
The Invisible Mammal is directed by award-winning filmmaker, Kristin Tieche. Kristin has been passionate about bats since she attended graduate school in Syracuse, New York. She has edited films and series that aired on National Geographic, Smithsonian Channel, Science Channel, PBS, and more. Her independent short films include Forms of Identification (2011), The Spinster (2013) and Velo Visionaries (2015-2017). Credits as producer and editor include Sundance Audience Award winner Fuel (2008), Power Paths (2009), and Love Thy Nature (2014). Kristin holds a Master of Arts in Television, Radio and Film from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, where she received awards in screenwriting and sound design from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.
DIRECTOR'S STATEMENT
In 1998, when I was a graduate film student at Syracuse University in upstate New York, I often went to the on-campus pub, The Inn Complete, with my schoolmates. One warm summer evening, I recall sitting on the balcony enjoying a cold beer and veggie burger, when I thought I saw something fly by head. I looked up and the sky was literally filled with bats! In all my life, I had never seen such a sight, and I thought it was just so cool to sit out and watch wildlife at work while having dinner. Flash forward to 2009, at my home in San Francisco, I read an article in the New Yorker by journalist Elizabeth Kolbert about how bats in North America were in trouble. A disease called white-nose syndrome had been discovered in a bat cave outside of Albany, New York in 2006, and since then millions of bats across the continent had perished as a result of its rapid spread. I immediately thought of the bats I saw in the night sky at The Inn Complete, and wondered if they too were dead, and if students like me were still able to dine under a night sky filled with little flying mammals.
It was at that moment that I knew, as a filmmaker and storyteller, I had to make a documentary about bats in North America. I started off small and local, by filming a colony of 250,000 Mexican free-tail bats that lived under a freeway just outside of Sacramento, California. In 2016, I finally completed a short film about a bat rescuer from Central California who leads groups of visitors to watch these bats emerge at sunset to feed on moths over the nearby crop fields. Without fail, every time I show that film to audiences, at least one person comes up to me after the screening and tells me that before seeing my film, they were afraid of bats, but now, they want to go see them in the wild because they realize how amazing these little creatures are. That kind of feedback inspired me to continue filming, and now I'm deep in the throes of directing a feature documentary, this time focusing on a scientific solution to protect bats from the effects of white-nose syndrome. I am following scientists conducting field research in several stunning locations across North America, and have had an opportunity to collaborate with some talented nature cinematographers. The film will be called The Invisible Mammal, and will be released in 2023. When audiences far and wide see the film, I hope they will fall in love with bats the way I have.
(photo credit: Jennifer Kennedy)
In 1998, when I was a graduate film student at Syracuse University in upstate New York, I often went to the on-campus pub, The Inn Complete, with my schoolmates. One warm summer evening, I recall sitting on the balcony enjoying a cold beer and veggie burger, when I thought I saw something fly by head. I looked up and the sky was literally filled with bats! In all my life, I had never seen such a sight, and I thought it was just so cool to sit out and watch wildlife at work while having dinner. Flash forward to 2009, at my home in San Francisco, I read an article in the New Yorker by journalist Elizabeth Kolbert about how bats in North America were in trouble. A disease called white-nose syndrome had been discovered in a bat cave outside of Albany, New York in 2006, and since then millions of bats across the continent had perished as a result of its rapid spread. I immediately thought of the bats I saw in the night sky at The Inn Complete, and wondered if they too were dead, and if students like me were still able to dine under a night sky filled with little flying mammals.
It was at that moment that I knew, as a filmmaker and storyteller, I had to make a documentary about bats in North America. I started off small and local, by filming a colony of 250,000 Mexican free-tail bats that lived under a freeway just outside of Sacramento, California. In 2016, I finally completed a short film about a bat rescuer from Central California who leads groups of visitors to watch these bats emerge at sunset to feed on moths over the nearby crop fields. Without fail, every time I show that film to audiences, at least one person comes up to me after the screening and tells me that before seeing my film, they were afraid of bats, but now, they want to go see them in the wild because they realize how amazing these little creatures are. That kind of feedback inspired me to continue filming, and now I'm deep in the throes of directing a feature documentary, this time focusing on a scientific solution to protect bats from the effects of white-nose syndrome. I am following scientists conducting field research in several stunning locations across North America, and have had an opportunity to collaborate with some talented nature cinematographers. The film will be called The Invisible Mammal, and will be released in 2023. When audiences far and wide see the film, I hope they will fall in love with bats the way I have.
(photo credit: Jennifer Kennedy)
