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Halle Berry on Sidney Poitier: “A performer whose enormous talents were eclipsed only by his kindness. I will recall him as my first mirror, and the true measure of a man.”

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The passing of Sidney Poitier, regal, graceful giant of American cinema, rightly sparked a great deal of focus on the powerful pair of Poitier films released in 1967, GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER and IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (which we’ll be screening in October). Greg Laemmle wanted to put in a plug for his personal Poitier favorite, the film for which he won his first Oscar, LILIES OF THE FIELD, which Greg called “a beautiful meditation on what can happen when religion moves us toward a place of love and compassion and away from division.” People everywhere, including world leaders, were moved to pay tribute to Poitier, including Oscar-winning actress-filmmaker Halle Berry. She wrote a terrific remembrance in Variety, which we’ll excerpt and link to:

“I grew up idolizing Sidney Poitier.

“I was around 9 when he flickered into my world on a television replay of GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER. I was a latchkey kid in Cleveland, daughter of a white, single mother and a Black father — whose union their parents had frowned upon. In the film, Sidney and his co-star, Katharine Houghton, play an interracial couple whose parents also struggle with their children’s relationship. There I sat in front of my mom’s old console, mesmerized, as I watched my family’s dynamic play out. For the first time in my childhood, I felt seen. Understood. Validated. The world already knew Sidney, who died last week at 94, as a formidable performer. But I first experienced him as a mirror.

“I watched that film over and over again, through my middle-school years and beyond. By then, my mother had moved our family from a Black enclave in Cleveland’s inner city to the suburbs, where I became one of a few Black students in a sea of Caucasian faces. I was a child who, like my parents’ interracial relationship, never quite fit in. In those years, it was rare to see Blacks in leading roles, much less have our narratives celebrated or even acknowledged. Cicely Tyson and Diana Ross were on the scene, as was the fresh memory of Dorothy Dandridge, the Black actress I idolized as much as I did Sidney. Back then, their mere presence was itself a form of protest. A challenge to the notion of whiteness as humanity’s high-water mark. Still, those images were scarce. As a child born to a white woman and a Black man, I felt alone and misunderstood. GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER, as great art does, was an affirmation that I mattered. Also, it gave others a window into my reality, of what it felt like to navigate the world with both Black and white parents.

“Sidney’s impact on me did not end there. Over the years, I looked to him as a sterling example, as a template of manhood and all that is honorable. I was just 4 when my parents separated, when my father’s alcoholism upended our family. As imperfect as my dad was, as deep of a wedge as his fury drove between us, I loved him, missed him, longed to have him close. In my mind’s eye, and in my father’s absence, Sidney epitomized what a man should be: unflappable and courageous, eloquent and proud, charming and handsome. He even physically resembled my father. I wasn’t yet born in 1964 when Sidney became the first Black man to win an Academy Award for best actor for his role in “Lilies of the Field.” But years later, when I witnessed the moment in a Black History class, I could not look away. Sidney’s grace and poise, the intention with which he spoke, the dignified way he carried himself — all of it resonated with me. Though I hadn’t met him, and did not dream that I ever would, I felt strongly connected to him.”

Click here to read the full piece in Variety.

Author and film critic Stephen Farber on Peter Bogdanovich: “Although he was a lover of old Hollywood, he saw the blemishes as well as the triumphs; he was a most clear-eyed observer.”

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“All film lovers were saddened by the passing of director Peter Bogdanovich last week, but I may have felt it a bit more keenly. Peter joined us for an Anniversary Classics screening of The Last Picture Show in December of 2016 at the Fine Arts Theatre, and he shared incisive memories about the making of the movie and about many of his other encounters with Hollywood legends over the decades. We were all impressed with how well his film held up after 45 years. As many people commented, it didn’t seem dated at all. The evocation of a dying Texas town in the early 1950s remained incisive and poignant.

Peter Bogdanovich & Stephen Farber in 2016. Photo courtesy of Gary Paul Andre.

“That was not my first encounter with Bogdanovich. I first met him when I was a graduate student at UCLA film school in the late 1960s and he taught a class on Howard Hawks, one of his friends and idols. I remember we got into a bit of an argument when I suggested that Hawks’ To Have and Have Not was not quite as original as he claimed but might have owed something to Casablanca, which came out a couple of years earlier and was directed by non-auteur Michael Curtiz. Anyway, Peter cheerfully dismissed my criticisms. Around the same time, I saw his first film, Targets, which impressed me greatly. Its portrayal of a mass shooter was way ahead of its time, and this story was welded skillfully to an inside-Hollywood tale starring the legendary Boris Karloff in one of his last screen performances. After that came The Last Picture Show and two other huge hits, What’s Up, Doc? and Paper Moon. We are hoping to pay tribute to Peter with a 50th Anniversary screening of Doc this year.

“Not all of his later movies were as successful, but he continued working productively, and he also scored successes as an actor and as a film historian. His books of interviews with directors and actors were enormously valuable to all film students and film lovers.

“In the 50 years between that UCLA class and the screening of The Last Picture Show, I encountered Peter on several occasions, and he was always warm and engaging. When I was writing a story about Cher in the 1990s, he shared some incisive memories of directing her in Mask, even though he spoke quite candidly about the tensions between them. Although he was a lover of old Hollywood, he saw the blemishes as well as the triumphs; he was a most clear-eyed observer. Hollywood did not always treat him any better than it treated some of his idols, like his good friend Orson Welles, but he survived to tell the tales, and he never surrendered to bitterness. I feel fortunate to have known him and to have shared a stage with him at that memorable anniversary screening five years ago.”

~ Stephen Farber was president of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association from 2012-2016. He is currently a critic for The Hollywood Reporter, a curator of Laemmle’s Anniversary Classics series and co-author of Cinema ’62: The Greatest Year at the Movies.

Top Ten Films of 2021: Read Greg Laemmle’s and tell us your favorites for a chance to win amazing prizes (gift cards)!

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Tell us your favorite ten films of 2021 for a chance to win a Gift Card valid at all eight Laemmle locations and at home on watch.laemmle.com!

The deadline for submission is February 21, 2022.

Here’s Greg Laemmle’s Top 10 list:
#10 – SHIVA BABY – This true indie gem came out just as theatres were reopening in April, and got a little lost in the shuffle.  I understand that director Emma Seligman and star Rachel Sennott are teaming up on another project, and can’t wait to see the results.
#9 – THE CARD COUNTER – Writer-director Paul Schrader is again at the top of his game with this meditation on the collective guilt arising from our country’s adventures in nation building and the ensuing crimes against humanity.  Oscar Isaac is terrific as Schrader’s scapegoat, and Tiffany Haddish and Tye Sheridan provide excellent support.
#8 – THE VELVET QUEEN – We wonder if patience will be rewarded as the subjects of the documentary wait for a glimpse of an elusive Himalayan snow leopard.  But either way, the audience’s patience is rewarded in this quiet and contemplative documentary.
#7 – JOCKEY – Clifton Collins Jr. has always been a welcome presence on screen.  But also such a chameleon that even the most astute moviegoer may miss his presence.  But he’s hard to miss as the aging jockey at the center of this quietly powerful story.  If there is any justice in Hollywood, he will be remembered when nominations for Best Actor are announced.
#6 – C’MON C’MON – Writer-director Mike Mills may only have four films to his credit (previously THUMBSUCKER, BEGINNERS, 20TH CENTURY WOMEN), but he has yet to deliver a bad film.  Anchored by strong performances from Joaquin Phoenix, Gaby Hoffmann and young newcomer,Woody Norman, this is worth searching out.
#5 – tick, tick…BOOM! – I’m not a fan of RENT.  And although I was familiar with the songs from this earlier Jonathan Larson musical, I wasn’t particularly a fan of the music.  But I loved what director LIn-Manuel Miranda did to blend Larson’s musical within a documentary framework to create something that goes above and beyond the source material.  And in a year when he also delivered amazing performances in MAINSTREAM and THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE, Andrew Garfield is beyond fabulous in the lead.
#4 – DRIVE MY CAR – Adapted from a short story by Murakami Haruki, this breakthrough film from director Ryusuke Hamaguchi is the foreign language sleeper of the year.
#3 – DUNE – It should come as no surprise that Denis Villeneuve delivers a visual feast in this epic telling of the first part of Frank Herbert’s beloved sci-fi novel.  But the emotional and philosophical aspects of the tale are given equal attention, and the result is that rare Hollywood blockbuster that satisfies on all fronts.  How often does one get to say that they eagerly look forward to the sequel to a Hollywood blockbuster.
#2 – BELFAST – Too sentimental? Who cares.  It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times.  And like Dickens, writer-director Kenneth Branagh shows us both the beauty and terror of his youth in Belfast in this elegiac tale.  The cast is uniformly excellent, from old pros like Judy Dench and Ciaran Hinds to newcomer Jude Hill.
#1 – THE POWER OF THE DOG – I beg you.  Please find a way to see this on the big screen.  Or if you must stream it, put your phone in another room and commit yourself to giving this film the same level of care and attention that director Jane Campion and her cast and crew clearly delivered in bringing this into existence.  This may be Ms. Campion’s finest work yet and coming from the director of AN ANGEL AT MY TABLE, THE PIANO and BRIGHT STAR, that is saying a lot.  I sincerely hope that she does not take off for another 12 years (the span between BRIGHT STAR and THE POWER OF THE DOG) from making feature films, but if that kind of break is needed to produce a movie as perfect and complete as THE POWER OF THE DOG, I will patiently wait.  This film is that good.
A couple other top ten lists from people who know their stuff and see pretty much everything:

Asghar Farhadi on his award-winning film A HERO: “People can take years to find within themselves the reasons for their actions, deeply buried within their past.”

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Winner of the Grand Prix and François Chalais Award and a nominee for the Palme d’Or at the last Cannes Film Festival, Iranian filmmaker Asghar Farhadi’s new film A Hero follows Rahim, on a two-day leave from debtor’s prison. While out, he tries to convince his creditor to withdraw his complaint. But things don’t go as planned. We open the film Friday at the Royal, Playhouse and Town Center and at our Claremont, Glendale and Newhall theaters on January 21.

“In Mr. Farhadi’s hands it’s a deliciously ironic, exquisitely complex and mysteriously stirring tale of a man, his son and family, and the staining of multiple reputations by what seems, at the outset, to be a fairly minor lie.” ~ Joe Morgenstern Wall St. Journal

“A superb morality play that immerses us deeply in a society’s values and rituals and keeps us guessing right to its powerful final shot.” ~ Dave Calhoun, Time Out

“As it takes more and more twists, the story veers on the edge of Shakespearean tragicomedy, with darkly funny results. But the dominant tone is dramatic, and occasionally tense and painful, as we watch our hero make dubious choices.” ~ Anna Smith, Deadline Hollywood Daily

Interview with Asghar Farhadi:

Q: How did the idea for A Hero come about?

A: I had been reading stories like this in the press for some time. Those of ordinary individuals, who briefly made newspaper headlines because of an altruistic act. These stories often had common peculiarities. A Hero was not inspired by a specific news item, but while writing it, I had these stories in mind that I read in the press.

Asghar Farhadi

Q: Why locate this story in Shiraz?

A: The answer to this question is given by the film’s theme. There are many historical remains in Shiraz, important and glorious traces of the Iranian identity. The main reason for choosing this city is the specificity of the plot and the characters. But the secondary reason was my wish to distance myself from the tumult of Tehran.

Amir Jadidi

Q: How did the writing process go?

A: At the beginning, I had a vague idea from these true stories. Over the years, the idea grew. I always work the same way. The spark can come from an image, a feeling, a succinct plot which will develop thereafter. Sometimes all of this can stay in a corner of my mind, without my suspecting that it will one day lead to a screenplay. Time is an important ally. Some of these seeds disappear on their own, others persist, grow and stay in you in a state of unfinished process, waiting for you to dedicate yourself to them. It is at this stage, through scattered notes, that an idea begins to emerge. Then comes the research and the first sketches which themselves dictate the path to take. Almost all of my stories have developed in my mind in this progressive way. I do not remember ever having been able to conceive of a complete story with a beginning, a middle and an end from the outset.

Sahar Goldust.

Q: Do you know the full biography of your characters?

A: The scattered notes I mentioned are largely part of the exploration of the characters’ past. This step, which always takes a long time, mostly concerns the main characters. For months, I note all the ideas related to the story I am developing on colored notecards. I choose one color for the ideas I am sure I will somehow incorporate into the script, another for those of which I am less sure. Many of these cards will not be used directly in the writing phase. They do not provide clear information for the script, however they help me to better understand my characters. During this preparatory phase, many aspects of the characters’ backgrounds are developed and leave more or less visible traces in the film.

Asghar Farhadi

Q: There is a great ambiguity in the character of Rahim. For example, the smile that hardly ever leaves him.

A: It seems to me that the realistic approach of the film required this complexity in the characters. As in real life, people are made of multiple dimensions, and in each situation, one dimension takes over and becomes more visible. One could say that these characters are “gray” – they are not stereotypical or one-dimensional. Like any real person in everyday life, they are made of contrasts, antagonistic tendencies or conflict at the time of their decision-making. Rahim’s smile is part of a set of traits that appeared gradually over months of rehearsals; while seeking to define the nature of the actor who embodied it, the role was inscribed in everyday life so as to give Rahim this quality of a “gray” character.

Amir Jadidi

Q: What is your method for your group scenes to be so natural, especially the family scenes?

A: This results mainly from the writing. It is an unconscious process. When one takes special care to make every detail of the scene plausible and authentic, the whole team, especially the actors, want to bring the script to life. With the characters’ behaviors and their dialogues being realistic and not built on clichés, the actors in their interpretation strive not to fall into the trap of artifice. There is certainly a risk that the search for naturalness itself constitutes an artifice. The line is fine and subtle and you have to be very vigilant not to cross it. Daily life can be repetitive and boring. As a director, one has to take care that the search for a realistic impression of the scene, almost like a documentary, does not induce the slow and uneventful pace of real life.

Q: Siavash lives with his uncle and aunt, and Farkhondeh stays with her brother. There is real solidarity in these extended families, which sometimes becomes a burden. Is this something very common in Iran?

A: Like in many other countries, I guess this is less observed in the capital or in large cities. But elsewhere, the pace of life is less hectic, families have lost less of their identity, their traditional ways of life and therefore these extended families are more frequent. Affective and family relationships are more developed, so if a family member is in trouble, everyone feels concerned. I grew up in this type of socio-cultural environment. Twenty years ago, the sentence “This is not my problem” did not exist in the Iranian language. However, this sentence has now been imported and characterizes a new relational mode in our society.

Q: Bahram’s character, the man to whom Rahim owes money, is also very ambiguous…

A: Classically, because of the obstacles he creates for the main character, he should have been unsympathetic and the villain in the movie. But as I mentioned before, due to the treatment of the characters, he has also his own reasons for acting the way he does. When he finally expresses them, they seem to us quite justified and his behavior understandable. It is perhaps this aspect, which goes against the stereotypical figure of the villain that allows us to feel closer to him.

Q: As in A Separation, the eyes of the children are important.

A: Once more, in this movie too, the children are the witnesses. They observe adults’ difficulties and their conflicts. They are unable to grasp the complexity of these difficulties. This is why, as in the previous movies, the children are dazed witnesses of the events. Their perception of the crisis experienced by the adults is purely emotional. Yet in this movie Nazanin, Bahram’s daughter, who is older than the other children, commits an act that creates an even more complex situation.

Q: Most of the characters communicate through social media. Is this a new and powerful phenomenon in Iran?

A: Like everywhere in the world, social networks in Iran occupy an important place in the lives of individuals. This phenomenon is quite recent, but its impact is such that it has become difficult to remember what life was like before its appearance. My personal experience makes me think that the omnipresence of social networks in everyday life is even more obvious in Iranian society than elsewhere. This can be explained by the country’s current socio-political situation.

Q: At the end of each of your films, the viewer does not have all the answers to the questions raised by the plot. Are you a filmmaker of the undecidable?

A: As I already said, this specific characteristic common to the films I have made is not intentional. This ambiguity, even this part of mystery, sometimes sets in during the writing and I have to say that I like it. This aspect makes the relationship between the film and the viewer more lasting beyond the screening. It gives the viewer the opportunity to think more about the film and to dig further into what you call the undecidable. I always take great pleasure in seeing Rashōmon again, precisely because of this mysterious dimension. To combine this ambiguity with an everyday story was an interesting challenge.

Q: Do you know this famous quote from Jean Renoir: “In this world, the truly terrible thing is that everybody has their reasons.” It seems to fit most of the characters of A Hero…

A: I totally agree. Everyone has their reasons for acting the way they do, even if they are not necessarily aware of these reasons. If asked to list them, they would be unable to do so. Sometimes they are not clear or easy to summarize. They are a mass of contradictions. In reality people can take years to find within themselves the reasons for their actions, deeply buried within their past. Furthermore, I must specify that for me, this sentence does not mean that all actions are justified. It is not a question of legitimacy, but understanding. Understanding does not mean to legitimize. By taking note of the reasons that prompted an individual to act, we can understand it, without necessarily agreeing with it.

The 2022 Q1 Culture Vulture schedule is here.

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Fine art is healing and considering the pain of the past two years, some palliative movies are in order. We have finalized the January-March schedule for our Culture Vulture series — featuring films about art and artists, opera, dance, stage, classical music and more . See them on the big screen every Monday at 7:30 PM and Tuesday at 1 PM at our Claremont, Glendale, Newhall, Playhouse and Royal theaters. Without further ado:

January 24-25 SO LATE SO SOON
January 31-February 1 SECRET IMPRESSIONISTS
February 7-8 THE NINTH SYMPHONY BY MAURICE BEJART
February 14-15 MAVERICK MODIGLIANI
February 21-22 no Culture Vulture screenings (Presidents’ Day)
February 28-3/1 ROMEO AND JULIET
March 7-8 NAPOLEON: IN THE NAME OF ART
March 14-15 CONCERTO: A BEETHOVEN JOURNEY
March 21-22 FRIDA KAHLO
March 28-29 IN SEARCH OF HAYDN
April 4-5 TBA
April 11-12 EASTER IN ART

JOCKEY Opens December 29 at the Royal.

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Updated: The 12/29 Q&A with JOCKEY star Clifton Collins Jr. and Laemmle Theatres president Greg Laemmle has been cancelled.

The highlight of the poignant new drama Jockey is the performance by Clifton Collins Jr., the prolific character actor here in the title role as an aging jockey training for a final championship. At Sundance earlier this year he earned the U.S. Dramatic Special Jury Award for acting. We open the film Wednesday at the Royal, January 21 at the Playhouse and Town Center, and February 4 at the Claremont, Glendale, Newhall and NoHo.

“An evocative study of American life on the fringes that unfolds alongside the grand mysticism of stallions. Clifton Collins Jr. delivers a haunting, profoundly poignant performance.” ~ Tomris Laffly, Harper’s Bazaar

“Bentley’s intimate character study shows a man coming to terms with his vulnerability, resting on a career-best performance from Clifton Collins Jr, who navigates the role of athlete and father with subtle but striking conviction.” ~ Emily Maskell, Little White Lies

“Jockey is a modest, intimate film, to be sure, but an impressively assured one. It finds a lovely, low-key groove early on and maintains it, and draws performances from its key players that are terrific and true.” Todd McCarthy, Deadline Hollywood Daily

“You’ve certainly seen [Collins Jr.] before, but never quite like this.” ~ Carlos Aguilar, TheWrap

“Somewhere between swagger and selflessness, win and lose, Jockey takes the home stretch.” ~ Sheri Linden, Hollywood Reporter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWI6Q-yKFbc

 

Oscar shortlists for International and Documentary Feature Films, including “Flee,” “Compartment No. 6,” “A Hero,” “Ascension” and “Faya Dayi.”

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This week the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced shortlists in 10 categories for next year’s Oscars (the ceremony is March 27), including Documentary Feature and International Feature Film. We have a number of these films in or soon to be in theaters, including the double nominee, animated documentary/drama “Flee;” “Compartment No. 6,” the Finnish romantic drama set on a train travelling above the Arctic Circle; Asghar Farhadi’s latest, “A Hero;” the melancholy Japanese masterpiece “Drive My Car;” and the Norwegian romantic comedy “The Worst Person in the World.” We also have a couple of the shortlisted films available on Laemmle Virtual Cinema, the stunning portrait of Chinese society “Ascension” and Ethiopian-Mexican filmmaker Jessica Beshir’s mesmerising “Faya Dayi.” From the Academy:

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE FILM
Fifteen films will advance to the next round of voting in the International Feature Film category for the 94th Academy Awards.  Films from 92 countries were eligible in the category.Academy members from all branches were invited to participate in the preliminary round of voting and must have met a minimum viewing requirement to be eligible to vote in the category.In the nominations round, Academy members from all branches are invited to opt in to participate and must view all 15 shortlisted films to vote.The films, listed in alphabetical order by country, are:Austria, “Great Freedom”
Belgium, “Playground”
Bhutan, “Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom”
Denmark, “Flee”
Finland, “Compartment No. 6”
Germany, “I’m Your Man”
Iceland, “Lamb”
Iran, “A Hero”
Italy, “The Hand of God”
Japan, “Drive My Car”
Kosovo, “Hive”
Mexico, “Prayers for the Stolen”
Norway, “The Worst Person in the World”
Panama, “Plaza Catedral”
Spain, “The Good Boss”

DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
Fifteen films will advance in the Documentary Feature category for the 94th Academy Awards.  One hundred thirty-eight films were eligible in the category.  Members of the Documentary Branch vote to determine the shortlist and the nominees.

THE VELVET QUEEN co-director on filming in the Tibetan highlands: “Your whole being soaks everything up. All of your senses are brought into play. It’s as if you resonate with the space around you and the living elements in it. Your emotions are literally heightened, and your animal element can finally express itself.”

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On December 22 we’ll open the acclaimed French wildlife documentary The Velvet Queen at the Royal in West L.A., with possible expansions to our Pasadena, Encino, Claremont, Newhall and Glendale theaters on January 7. In Variety, film critic Guy Lodge wrote “Two French adventurers travel the Tibetan Highlands in search of the elusive snow leopard, but Marie Amiguet’s quietly spellbinding doc is more about the chase than the quarry.” In Moveable Fest, Steven Saito wrote that co-director Marie “Amiguet get[s] at something even scarcer and more exquisite than what the two men are chasing.”

The Velvet Queen co-director and photographer Vincent Munier was interviewed about his experience:

Q: Why has the snow leopard been the main focus of your thoughts and your journeys over the past few years?

A: I’m still a big kid who lives off his dreams and images of mythical animals. I discovered this leopard in the adventure stories of American biologist George B. Schaller. He had filmed it in Chitral, in Pakistan, in the 1970s. But when I went to Tibet for the first time, in 2011, I wasn’t very convinced I would have a chance of seeing it. On the other hand, I knew I would see other species that were equally enigmatic. And to start with, I spent a month without seeing it — just some tracks — but it was fascinating to know that it was there. I was first attracted to these high plateaus by the wild yack, a totem animal from another era, which was probably around at the same time as woolly rhinos or mammoths. Like the musk ox in the Arctic. Deep down, the leopard was a pretext. An extravagant pretext, but a pretext all the same.

Q: What made you come back on its tracks so often?

A: As with the Arctic, I like to return to the same places… I like to discover them at my own pace, over time, and often alone. It’s a great satisfaction to slowly learn to uncover the secrets that surround wild animals, by imagining them, tracking them, and observing them! I’ve effectively always preferred to spend several years focussing on one subject, rather than flitting from one to another: fleeing orders and following my instinct. With regards to Tibet, I must have been there eight times, at first to shoot photos and then for a book. Then, I got this desire to film, with a small team of two to three people at most, to avoid disturbing the wildlife and to be able to remain adaptable and flexible in this complex high-altitude environment. Léo-Pol Jacquot has been working with me for eight years, mainly in the office. I was delighted to get him away from his screens a bit and take him up there! He has practically no on-terrain experience and I was astonished by his ability to adapt. Marie Amiguet brought a fresh look at the place, a particular sensitivity… and I appreciated her leopard-like discretion. Her mission was to follow us whilst remaining invisible, to film us without anything being staged, so that we could be as close to reality as possible. That method brings its share of awkwardness and technical shortcomings, but also a certain amount of sincerity in the moments captured. The aim was to precisely capture the emotions we were feeling.

Q: Why is it that the last two times you decided to travel with a writer?

A: To get a broader vision. It’s no longer sufficient for me to take my fill of the beauty I encounter and these living dreams. I want to share these experiences, to draw attention to the urgency of putting aside our intense anthropocentrism, to end the devastating hegemony of the human species over all others. I am deeply scarred by the destiny that awaits all these animals that are pushed into ever-decreasing areas because of us! And it’s difficult to portray that dimension using only images, particularly when you’ve chosen to show beauty rather than devastation. To emphasize the wonder that I want to portray with my photographs, I felt that a well-composed, engaged written presentation was necessary.

Q: What made you choose Sylvain Tesson?

A: Sylvain and I had already bumped into each other several times and he’d mentioned he’d like to accompany me on my observations. I knew his adventure tales but I was particularly taken with his book Sur les Chemins Noirs. You could feel an ecological thread running through it. So, I naturally invited him to bring my adventures to a close with a book using his texts and this film. As is often the case, I strive to build bridges: to convey wonder, follow nature’s slow pace that you become completely steeped in as the hours and observations pass. So the aim was to film our exchanges around a common dream by using the wildlife images brought together during my preceding adventures up there. At the same time, came the idea of proposing a beautiful object related to that, an album whose photos would have captions composed by the writer. That’s my artistic side. I like to follow every stage at my own pace, so I can be as close as possible to what I really want to share, with no constraints and no pressure.

Q: Vincent, you who are often used to doing your wildlife-watching alone, this time you had more people than ever before with you: guides, a writer, a director, and an assistant director following in your steps. How did that change the way you work?

A: I got myself into a different mindset. And we were rarely all together at the same time. One or two Tibetan friends stayed on the base camp (in the bottom of a valley, by a river), that we travelled out from for several days, into a landscape that I already knew a little thanks to the time I’d spent there previously. After that, we’d split up to work in more discreet pairs.

Q: Was your encounter with this beauty guaranteed?

A: The highpoint of this project was that it was like a planetary alignment, everything just fell into place. To begin with, there was no foregone conclusion that this combination would work out. And there was absolutely no guarantee that Sylvain would effectively end up seeing this leopard. And then, during the very last days, she was there! When I got out from beneath my duvet in the cave, and I saw her eating her prey that she’d killed the day before, it was just an incredible moment! That’s something you can’t stage in advance, of course.

Q: Talking of lucky planetary alignments, it would seem that also brought you a great surprise for the film’s music.

A: It was stunning! We were incredibly lucky to work with Warren Ellis, an extraordinary artist, whose minimalist and enchanting music I adore. It really echoed the vast wild landscapes and magical apparitions of the animals I encountered in Tibet. I had dreamed of being able to work with him one day on one of my films. I thought he was totally inaccessible, but, in spite of his massively busy schedule, he accepted to compose an original score for our leopard! And our exchanges during that work were extremely interesting and meaningful. I discovered him to be a sensitive and kind man. In spite of the fact that we work in very different environments, we found that we shared a lot of our influences. Even though he was supposed to go to Brighton to record his poetry album with Marianne Faithfull, he managed to make time to compose this score. And he brought in his former partner Nick Cave. Nick sings Sylvain’s words! Finishing the film on their voice and music was something I’d never dared hope for!

Q: On a more down to earth matter: You’ve already tested the comforts of Chinese jails in the past when you were out looking for leopards. Did you travel less hazardous administrative routes this time?

A: Astonishingly, yes. Yet, in these regions, the police are on the lookout. They are all over the place and carry out constant checks. You’re not allowed to photograph the poverty of the nomads, Chinese installations, and so on. The police force is probably the Chinese State’s largest employer in Tibet. And effectively, during one of my previous trips, when I had discovered the perfect place to watch out for the leopard, I was arrested by the police who accused me of poaching. It was totally absurd and very violent. In fact, I thought I’d been blacklisted and wouldn’t be allowed back. The exceptional presence of Europeans can create a veritable climate of paranoia in certain sectors. Luckily, we didn’t have any problems the last two times.

As a side story, the pictures of the leopard during the film’s closing credits, when we hear Nick Cave’s moving voice, were taken thanks to an automatically triggered camera. I’d placed it on the prey it had recently killed and, in between times, I’d been taken in by the police who kept me several days for a brutal interrogation. I got my first pictures of the animal without seeing it!

Q: Tell us about your first encounter with the snow leopard.

A: What a moment that was! But first and foremost, it was tracking it that was fascinating. Looking for its tracks, reading the clues, spending whole days with my binoculars glued to my eyes. Tracking it down is so exciting! Deep down, it has this slightly devilish side to it, constantly watching us without us being able to see it. It obliges us to behave a little like it does. We have to hide, camouflage, and above all, not be intrusive… that’s what it brings to us. The first time, there was this slow crescendo. First, there were old tracks, then fresh tracks, a crow calling out (which meant there may be a predator around), a change in weather (which often leads animals to change location)… and as I was spending hours and hours looking through the binoculars, it suddenly appeared in my field of vision. It went past without seeing me! It was like a perfect appearance on screen in a wildlife film. I was even more satisfied as I hadn’t disturbed its movements.

Q: The last trip you made also provided you with a new encounter: the Tibetan bear. Yet you didn’t seem to believe it would happen.

A: Effectively, that was another crazy story. The Tibetans are a little scared of this bear. I’d heard about quite a few fights up there between nomads and bears. But it seemed very improbable that I’d get a chance to observe it. It’s so cold up there. What could they possibly find to eat? They are mainly herbivores, after all! That’s what’s so wonderful about this passion. Nothing is planned, you go from surprise to surprise.

Q: Over the years, with your work, you’ve accumulated a wealth of in-depth knowledge about nature and its inhabitants. But does your instinct also play a role in your decisions with regards to where to go, where to lie in wait, or whether to press on?

A Yes. A huge role. I really believe in the notion of instinct. It’s difficult to describe the role your body plays at those moments in the way you react and the choices you make. Your whole being soaks everything up. All of your senses are brought into play. It’s as if you resonate with the space around you and the living elements in it. Your emotions are literally heightened, and your animal element can finally express itself. Yet, there are regular failures — and that’s a good thing! Failure allows us to understand how vulnerable we are out there.

Q: You say yourself in the film: “I don’t work like a photojournalist, showing what’s wrong with nature.” But isn’t showing only its beauty tantamount to drawing up an inventory of what will soon disappear?

A: That’s sadly true! And I’m not equipped to place my cameras where things are harsh or dark, or where horror has prevailed. In fact, I take my hat off to those who are capable of dealing with that. Naturally, I tend to live off poetry and beauty, even when it’s extremely vulnerable, and it would be really hard for me to only be the witness of ecological catastrophes.

Q: You have often had to deal with very harsh weather conditions. That’s probably not by pure chance.

A: The Arctic, the Antarctic, and Tibet are the three zones that attract me for a number of reasons. I have always liked cold lighting and the animals that live in these hostile conditions. On top of that, because of that extreme harshness, man is less present and the link to wildlife is much clearer. In Tibet, there’s also a very tense geopolitical dimension. There are very few visitors to the sites and its wildlife such as the Tibetan fox, the Tibetan antelope, and the manul remain largely unknown.

Q: For a few years, you’ve been making more films than you have taken photographs. Why is that?

A: When the filming option was put on our cameras about ten years ago, I simply started to use it more and more often. It got to the point where, in Asturias, where I recently made a film on bears, I hadn’t taken any photos at all. I feel that moving images are a better way to portray emotions. It’s exciting being able to integrate sound, too, which echoes the landscape, its ambiences, and its resonances. But a film is also much longer and much harder to make.

Q: After having crossed the leopard’s path several times, do you still dream of it, today? What does it represent for you?

A: The first encounter is inevitably unforgettable. Like all the major first times: with the Eurasian lynx at home in France, that I waited for, for fifteen years, after setting up camp a number of times… I would hear it yowling, but never see it! And finally, the day it appears, you’re finally within reach of something supreme, that’s haunted you for a long time. In the same way, I feel haunted by the memory of the ghostly presence of the first pack of white wolves I observed in the Canadian High Arctic. You’re so obsessed with these visions that you end up wondering if they are fantasies or reality. And there’s not just the image! There are the smells, the noises. All of that permeates you, permanently. Something outside us lodges inside of us, setting us in motion. Like the very first roe deer that I photographed when I was twelve years old, and that changed my life, dramatically. That’s the effect that the snow leopard still has on me, today.

About Vincent Munier: Since 2011, Munier has spent several months in Tibet to bring back precious images of this world that is poised between land and sky. A lover of wild open spaces and of extreme travel, he chose photography as a tool to convey his dreams, his emotions, and his encounters. Today, his pictures are exhibited in galleries in France and abroad. Vincent Munier founded the Kobalann publishing company and today, he is the author of a dozen books, including Arctique (2015) and Tibet, Minéral Animal (2018). In 2019, with Laurent Joffrion, he co-directed the film Ours, Simplement Sauvage (Kobalann Productions / France TV Studio).