Xue Bao | Snow Leopard (dir Pema Tseden, China, 2023)

This is a story about how people and animals can finally get along. A snow leopard, rare and globally endangered, breaks into the pen of a herder family and kills nine goats. The father and son argue about what to do: the son wants to kill the snow leopard, the father insists on releasing it since the animal represents the spirit of the mountains. It’s a scenario that summarises the clash between traditional values and contemporary developments in a modernising Tibet; Tseden, who died before the film could be released, devoted his career to illustrating the complexities of modern life in his native land, and his final completed feature is no exception.

Screens with Shift (dir Sherine Raffoul and Moussa Shabandar, Lebanon, 2024: 18 min), a documentary short about Chadi Saad; once an enthusiast bird hunter, he has made a 360° turn and condemns hunting as criminal.

This programme is part of the Al Sidr Environmental Film Festival, a collaboration between NYUAD and Environment Agency – Abu Dhabi