‘The Shepherd And The Bear’: Ursine Rewilding Program Triggers Intense Conflict – International Documentary Festival Amsterdam

deadline.com:

Yves Raspaud may be the grumpiest man in Europe. The shepherd, who tends flocks in a very remote section of the French Pyrénees, mostly communicates in guttural utterances which do not seem to express a favorable view of things.

Of late, Raspaud has had a lot to rasp about – namely, a mandate from centers of power far from the Pyrénees who have ordered the re-wilding of bears in the region where the shepherd lives.

Not surprisingly, the bears, relocated from Eastern Europe, have demonstrated a robust appetite for his delectable sheep. The story of Raspaud, and the larger questions raised by the rewilding project, is told in the documentary The Shepherd and the Bear, directed by Max Keegan and produced by Keegan, Elizabeth Woodward, Jesse Moss and Amanda McBaine, and co-produced by Eleonore Voisard.

The film is holding its international premiere at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), following a world premiere in September at the Camden International Film Festival in Maine. “We met Yves and we kind of just fell in love with him,” Keegan explained during a Q&A in Camden, which we attended. “He was so surly and bizarrely welcoming, but also kind of petrifying as well.