NATURE . WILDLIFE

SNOW LEOPARDS AND FRIENDS

50' (ENG, GER)

A moving true story about the power of nature, of motherhood, and the fragility of life.

It’s midwinter in the mountains of the Qinghai Tibetan Plateau, four kilometres up, and airless. This is the home of the rare snow leopard, the spirit of the Himalayas. Isolated yak herders have battled snow leopards, bears and wolves for generations; these are old animosities. In 2006, the area became a reserve, and a gun ban was strictly enforced. The herders have no way to protect their yak, and start losing 10% of their calves each year. What to do?

Three young herders try and supplement their income by scraping together some money from odd jobs, and borrow some cameras. They know the animals better than anyone, they grew up with them. Snow leopards are woven into their childhood dreams. Their names are Zi Ding, Qu Peng and Da Jie. They are joined by professional wildlife cameraman Xi Zhinong; together, they will work for over five years to capture amazing behaviour.