Whispers in the Woods

How many ways can sunlight break through low-hanging mist? How many times can you watch clouds slowly envelop an entire forest? Endlessly, according to award-winning nature photographer and filmmaker Vincent Munier.

 

After the IDFA hit The Velvet Queen (2021), in which he searched the Tibetan Plateau for the elusive snow leopard, Munier now returns with a new nature film that is just as breathtaking and hopeful. This time he stays much closer to home, in the forests of the Vosges in France. Munier first came here as a teenager; it was here his father taught him about nature—how to look, and above all, how to listen.

 

Vincent’s son is now the same age he was at the time. We follow three generations of the Munier family in the vast forests. Waiting and watching, the silence broken only by their whispers. There are rutting deer and comical young owls. In the evening, by candlelight, they tell each other stories: the last time Grandpa saw a capercaillie, or a tall tale about a lynx. A joy to listen to and, luckily for us, accompanied by beautiful images.