Whispers in the Woods
This César Best Documentary–winning French box-office smash, with a score featuring Warren Ellis, is a stunning visual and aural immersion into the misty Vosges mountains.
Three generations of nature lovers set out to find the western capercaillie amid the densely wooded and visually spectacular Vosges, a French mountain range close to the German border. Award-winning wildlife photographer and filmmaker Vincent Munier joins his 12-year-old son and father, environmentalist Michel Munier, on a journey through the forest in search of the endangered bird. But even though the capercaillie might be rare here, other wildlife are not. Munier’s camera captures bears, deer, owls and more, in all their visual and sonic glory.
After winning awards in the National History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition three years in a row in his youth, Vincent Munier has in recent times also turned his hand to the moving image. His first feature documentary, The Velvet Queen, charted his quest to find the elusive snow leopard; Whispers in the Woods brings him back to where he grew up, and to a far more personal quest. While Munier’s images are extraordinary, what sets this film apart is how they combine with the sound design (which also scored a César) to highlight the unique aural vibrations of these woods – all underscored by Warren Ellis, Dom La Nena and Rosemary Standley’s score, which itself earned a Lumière Award for Best Music. An exquisite love letter to family and to the wonderful world we live in, Whispers in the Woods is best experienced on the big screen.
“A special kind of documentary … Whispers in the Woods is an incredibly immersive film that captures the magical beauty of nature while also showcasing its fragility. A film to take a deep breath and reflect.” – Out Now
The Fri 21 Aug screening of this film is a Sensory Friendly session. More information about our Access offerings is available here [https://miff.com.au/access].Tickets
For information about the accessible services being offered at MIFF, please visit miff.com.au/access. If you require any access service, such as wheelchair/step-free access, for any MIFF session, please call 03 8660 4888 or email boxoffice@miff.com.au to book your ticket.
You might also like ...
As animals and humans collide in the world’s “Polar Bear Capital”, this acclaimed doc pairs gorgeous photography with climate change questions.
Man meets stork in this heartwarming depiction of rural struggle and rehabilitation from one of the filmmakers behind the Oscar-nominated Honeyland.
In a new twist on nature documentary, the old-school format of super-8 offers a stunningly impressionistic, hopeful vision of our footprint upon the world.