The Shepherd and the Bear

The brown bear was reintroduced to the Ariège region of the Pyrenees nearly thirty years ago. Since then, a fierce battle has taken hold between wildlife conservationists and sheep farmers, whose flocks, grazing high in the summer pastures, are increasingly under attack. Yves, a seasoned farmer, and his young apprentice shepherdess Lisa are among those paying the price. As the conditions of their ancestral trade grow ever more challenging, Yves struggles to find someone willing to take over his life’s work. Meanwhile, young Cyril — the son of a sheep farmer — dreams of one day seeing a bear, and longs to join the French Office for Biodiversity, the agency responsible for the species’ reintroduction. Embedded in the heart of this divided community, Max Keegan captures with striking precision the core of an age-old conflict: the uneasy coexistence between human and predator — “eat or be eaten.” In the face of this binary opposition, compromise and shifts in perspective remain painfully slow to emerge. A raw and compelling reflection on our relationship with the natural world, told through the lens of a modern fable, elevated by breathtaking cinematography.
Aurélien Marsais

The Shepherd and the Bear, 2024