Winter Nomads

While today's society seems to be sinking deeper and deeper into multinational greed and capitalist chaos, voices are constantly being raised in favor of more harmonious ancestral approaches, not out of misplaced nostalgia, but out of respect for the world around us and for what we will eventually consume. Thus, each year, for four months, Pascal and his apprentice take to the alpine pastures, on foot, with 800 sheep, four dogs and three donkeys. The Swiss filmmaker Manuel Von Stürler has filmed this incredible thousand year old journey - the transhumance - up close. The contrast between the ancient and the modern is immediately apparent as the shepherds leave the city leading their flock through a maze of dangerous highway junctions. How does such a practice still manage to exist amidst the noise and fury of the contemporary world? There is no cluttered commentary in this remarkable film, all in hushed gentleness, on the extraordinary persistence of certain traditions and on the calm of nature. The superb images speak for themselves in a symphony of monochromatic natural tones. Evoking both the light of chiaroscuro and the naive humor of Brueghel, Nomadic Winter brings to life a pastoral painting worthy of the greatest masters.

Claire Valade
Critic and programmer