Its antlers are stately, its gaze penetrating. There it stands and looks at us, the elk, in the middle of the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, which is its home. It is a world where the creatures that infinitely enrich the region have precedence, and where we cautiously immerse ourselves – be it from a bird’s eye view, or very close-up, grasping the animals directly with our senses, like a snail that extends its tentacles to feel its surroundings. It is only in this way, the essay film by Emma Davie (I am Breathing) and Peter Mettler (End of Time) declares, that we can establish relationships between what we are and what surrounds us: human beings and animals, space and time, body and intuition.
Together with the philosopher and radical thinker David Abram, the Scottish documentary filmmaker and her Canadian-Swiss colleague embark on a fascinating sensory exploration of nature, using observations and reflections to bring the viewer back to the point where the mutual dependency and interaction between human and animal forces are once again made tangible. In close contact with buffaloes, ravens, hot springs and rustling forests, they reach amazing insights and perspectives about the here and now as well as about its many pre-histories.
