Vincent Munier
The renowned wildlife photographer talks us through tracking a majestic snow leopard through Tibet for The Velvet Queen, a new film
INTERVIEW
Since 2011, Vincent Munier has spent several months in Tibet to bring back precious images of a world poised between land and sky.
A lover of wild open spaces and extreme travel, Munier uses photography as a tool to convey his dreams, emotions and encounters.
Today, his pictures are exhibited in galleries in his native France, as well as abroad.
Munier also founded the Kobalann publishing company and is the author of a dozen books, including Arctique (2015) and Tibet, Minéral Animal (2018).
In 2019, with Laurent Joffrion, he co-directed the film Ours, Simplement
Sauvage (Kobalann Productions/ France TV Studio).
www.vincentmunier.com
www.modernfilms.com/velvetqueen
“Rubbing shoulders with beauty” is how writer Sylvain Tesson described his first encounter with the snow leopard.
The Velvet Queen follows world-renowned wildlife photographer Vincent Munier as he accompanies novelist and adventurer Sylvain Tesson on his quest to find the elusive snow leopard. As they travel among unexplored and remote valleys, Vincent introduces Sylvain to the subtle art of tracking these magnificent animals and finding the patience to catch sight of the beasts. Interspersed with beautiful photographic stills captured by Vincent on the pair’s journey in the Tibetan peaks, the writer and photographer observe many animals often invisible to us and engage in a conversation on humankind’s place among them.
The film’s beautiful original score is composed by Warren Ellis and features Nick Cave. The Velvet Queen is showing in cinemas now.
Why has the snow leopard been the main focus of your thoughts and your journeys over the past few years?
I’m still a big kid who lives off his dreams and images of mythical animals. I discovered this leopard in the adventure stories of American biologist George B Schaller. He had filmed it in Chitral, Pakistan, in the 1970s. But when I went to Tibet for the first time, in 2011, I wasn’t very convinced that I would have a chance of seeing it. On the other hand, I knew I would see other species that were equally enigmatic.