You’ve heard of forest bathing? This is the cinematic equivalent, a luxuriant, healing immersion in nature, featuring some of the most ravishing wildlife photography you will ever see. Vincent Munier’s film about the Tibetan snow leopard, The Velvet Queen, screened at VIFF five years ago. This film is much closer to home: the woods of the Vosges, in France, where Vincent grew up and went on camping trips with his naturalist father, Michel. And this time they are joined by Vincent’s son, Simon. And so we watch as three generations share stories and wisdom out in the wild as they contemplate and marvel at precious glimpses of the “ghost world”: capercaillies and cranes, stags and lynx, that determinedly skirt human observation. The score is by Nick Cave collaborator, Warren Ellis.
With infinite patience, humility, and a lucidity that avoids pessimism, Munier reminds us of the need to inhabit the world in ways other than through illusory techno-solutionism.
Etienne Sorin, Le Figaro
Intimate, contemplative, with a mind-boggling emotional power.
Lelo Jimmy Batista, Liberation
Vincent Munier
Michel Munier, Vincent Munier, Simon Munier
France
2025
In French with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Tuesday July 14
Thursday July 16
Saturday July 18
Sunday July 19
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Credits
Producer
Pierre-Emmanuel Fleurantin, Laurent Baujard
Cinematography
VincentMunier, AntoineLavorel, LaurentJoffrion
Editor
Laurent Joffrion,Vincent Schmitt
Original Music
Warren Ellis, Dom La Nena, Rosemary Standley
Also Playing
Whispers in the Woods
A luxuriant, healing immersion in nature with ravishing wildlife photography, this is the cinematic equivalent of "forest bathing," a trip deep into the Vosges, France, with photographer Vincent Munier (The Velvet Queen), his father and his son.
