Trailer
Year
2014
Length
43 min
Director
Zhou Bing
Buddha and the Snow Leopards
Spectacular views on Qinghai’s mountains, extremely rare footage of the endangered snow leopards as well as an intimate understanding of the life of the herdsmen on the Tibetan Plateau create an exceptional film experience.
Snow leopards are one of the most endangered cat species worldwide and are strictly protected. No more than 6.000 to 8.000 of the rare cats remain today. Their habitat continuously shrinks because of environmental destruction and the local herdsmen broadening their pastures. Time and again, the herdsmen – their lifestock being diminished by the cats – feel entitled to shoot the snow leopards. Especially in the winter, when they mostly attack their sheep and yaks. A conflict between humans and nature.
Now, at the holy Chinese mountain of Nyenpo Yurtse in Qinghai, Buddhist monks try to solve this conflict. Their project is extraordinary: The herdsmen are given cameras to document their daily lives and rediscover their traditional understanding of nature.
Written and directed by
Zhou Bing
Qiu Min
Xu Zhixiang
Cinematography
Liu Yang
Miao Zhuang
Li Zhen
Lan Zhe
Le Wang
Zhou Jie
Editing
Xu Zhixiang
Philipp Gromov
Music
He Bin
Milan Meyer-Kaya
Sound
Liu Ying
Producers
Zhou Mingwei
Liu Wen
Lv Zhi
Zhou Bing
Christian Beetz
Editors
Ralf Quibeldey (NDR)
Larissa Klinker (NDR/arte)
Zhou Yan (CCTV9)
Sales & distribution
- Press kit
- Press photos
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„Just in diesem Moment überraschen uns die aus dem Theaterbereich stammenden jungen Regisseure Hans Block und Moritz Riesewieck mit einem erstaunlichen Dokumentarfilm, der seit Monaten Publikum und Kritik auf den wichtigsten Festivals der Welt elektrisiert. Völlig zu Recht: Es ist, als würden einem die Scheuklappen weggerissen, als sähe man das, was sich seit Jahren direkt vor unseren Augen abspielt, zum ersten Mal unverschleiert... eine fesselnde ,Doku noir' mit höchstem Anspruch...Dieser Film müsste an allen Schulen gezeigt werden.“
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
17.05.2018
