“Illuminates richly human connections with stirring observational portraiture.” —Filmmaker Magazine
The Shepherd and the Bear follows an aging shepherd facing down a rapidly changing landscape. High in the majestic French Pyrenees, where Yves and his family have eked out a living for generations, he struggles to find a successor, hoping to pass the torch to young ward Lisa, who is obsessed with tracking and hunting bears. Complicating matters is a government program to repopulate bears in the region, which ultimately threatens Yves’ flock and his way of life. Filmmaker Max Keegan embedded with the local shepherd community in Ariège for years to get to the heart of the repopulation issue, carefully observing the debate, remaining sensitive to arguments for and against, and resisting easy answers. Through its breathtaking cinematography and immersive storytelling, The Shepherd and the Bear is a modern folktale about tradition, community, and humanity’s relationship with a vanishing natural world.