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 http://www.babiesthemovie.com/
If you were enraptured by just-hatched creatures of March of the Penguins, wait until you see Babies.
The collective cooing began last fall when the film's trailer first appeared in theaters. Two African children play with rocks inside a hut when the younger one decides to reach for a nearby plastic bottle — only to have the older toddler suddenly push her and grab it away. One bites, the other shrieks, tears are shed and the laughter of shared recognition fills the air.
The due date for this nearly dialogue-free documentary that follows the progress of four infants in Namibia, Mongolia, Tokyo and San Francisco from birth to their first halting steps isn't until May 7. But the anticipation on parenting blogs and movie sites is building already.
Typical response from one visitor to the mommy-oriented blog Gnome Sweet Gnome: "Oh man, when I watched that trailer with the hubby, I was crying like a baby. It was just the sweetest trailer EVER."
Count James Schamus, the head of Focus Features, among the charmed. When his friend, French comedy icon and producer Alain Chabat (Napoleon in the Night at the Museum sequel), invited him into the editing booth to see what became of his idea for a film about babies, the executive was hooked.
"This movie is not America's Funniest Home Videos," says Schamus, whose company is distributing the movie, which began filming in 2006 and took two years to shoot. "It is 80 minutes of jaw-dropping wonder. The great thing about babies is you can never direct them. They never do something fake."
The rating is a family-friendly PG, mostly for breastfeeding-related nudity.
Paul Dergarabedian, Hollywood.com box-office analyst, says Babies has all the signs of a sleeper hit in the making. "I am not a baby guy, but I was riveted by the trailer," he says. "It's difficult to impress and surprise people, but this is one of those times where you say, 'I got to see this movie.' "
Meet the infants who star in the documentary 'Babies'
Here are the four unknowns who are about to become stars around the world when the documentary opens May 7th.
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Ponijao
The eighth of nine children lives near Opuwo, Namibia, and her family is part of the Himba tribe. Her days are mainly spent on the dirt-dry ground outdoors, being raised by a community of women and hanging out with other children. As Focus Features chief James Schamus puts it, "In the village, a breast is lunch for anyone who gets there first." Says filmmaker Thomas Balmes about the outgoing Ponijao, "I never saw her in a bad mood. She is always laughing or smiling." Save for the opening scene of the trailer, that is.
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Bayarjargal
His family of herders lives in a large, well-furnished round tent in Mongolia near Bayanchandmani. One detail that intrigued filmmakers was that he had an older brother, Delgerjargal, who was 2 when he was born. It seems sibling rivalry is universal. Despite being picked on, "Bayar is very easy going," Balmes says. "What is fascinating is that Mongolian babies are very silent and shy. They aren't social because they don't see many people. But Bayar saw the crew and had people visit for such a long time that he is very social and sensitive to others. Even Degi became more social after the filming."
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Mari
She and her parents live in a towering apartment building high above the bustle of Tokyo's teaming streets and neon-lit cityscape. Says Balmes: "She is a lonely kid without a brother or a sister. That puts a whole different pressure on her. You sense how much of a princess she is. The whole family does whatever they feel like she wants. She represents the more intellectual way of raising a child." She also throws a drama queen's dream of a tantrum that would rival any Hollywood diva.
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Hattie
An independent sort with a mind of her own, she lives in a cozy home with her ecologically aware vegetarian parents in San Francisco. "Her parents consider her opinion as important as an adult's. They don't judge her." When Balmes returned with his camera in December to do an update on the babies, Hattie got to see herself on film. "At one point, she said, 'This is enough.' It was in the middle of the screening. We stopped it and waited until later to watch it again."
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The world is 'Babies' filmmaker's playpen
 The magic number when it came to making Babies?
Four.
Four infants. Four far-ranging countries. Four hundred hours of footage. Four hundred days of shooting over two years.
In terms of the talent behind the camera, however, the man who proved right for the job was Thomas Balmes, 40, a respected French documentarian and father of three with the necessary patience to observe and wait for his young stars to do their stuff.
"Sometimes we would spend three weeks on one location and know we only had one shot," says the filmmaker, whose previous subjects have included peacekeepers in Bosnia and the mad-cow crisis as it affected India. "You must trust in reality. It is an unbeatable script. If you take enough time, things will happen."
Balmes was able to shoot 80% of the movie himself despite working in disparate parts of the world. Film crews based in each country were able to fill in the rest.
Pregnant mothers were interviewed and selected for participation in the film before the gender of the unborn children was known — which is why there are three girls and just one boy.
Each situation presented its own challenges. With the Himba tribe in Namibia and in the remote grassy hills of Mongolia, the babies spent more time outdoors interacting with nature than those in urban areas. "In the wild, my presence there was much less disturbing," Balmes says. "I had more freedom. It was much more difficult in San Francisco and Tokyo, shooting inside of apartments. It was more intrusive to the family."
From Day 1, the babies had a high-definition, low-light camera in their faces, and they quickly grew accustomed to Balmes and his tripod. "We stopped filming once the babies grew older and more conscious of their surroundings," he says. The only time the filmmaker thought about interrupting the action was when cows were moving dangerously close to Bayarjargal, the boy baby from Mongolia. But he had nothing to fear. "Somehow the cows were aware that this is not a big grown-up adult. "
Balmes found his own thoughts about child-rearing changing after his experience. Just like Americans, Europeans are less willing to trust a baby to amuse itself, he says. "I myself wake up every morning, sing a song, read books, take them to dance lessons and fill in every moment. But kids need time by themselves. I saw how babies with nothing to do developed the most aptitude."
Featuring Director Thomas Balmès, Producer Alain Chabat and Focus Features CEO James Schamus.
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