Chloe rescues and trains wild horses in New Zealand. In her quest to understand and document traditional husbandry practices, she has developed a close relationship with a family of Mongolian reindeer herders from the Dukha ethnic group. She has visited them many times, but never in winter, when temperatures drop so low that the family has to split up. The mother, Ankhaa, stays in the valley so the children can go to school. The father, Magsar, takes the reindeer to higher altitudes where they can still feed on lichen, almost safe from wolves
This year, Ankhaa and Magsar insisted that Chloe spend part of the winter with them. Huddled around the stove in the camp’s only tent, two different visions of the world collide. On the one hand, there is the fascination and unease of Westerners witnessing this disappearing nomadic way of life. On the other hand, there are the herders baffled by the infernal circus of tourists who visit them.
But in winter, stereotypes quickly dissolve into the gestures of common survival. Melting snow, eating and sleeping in a crowded teepee at -30°C, washing dishes in the snow, and so on. In the face of winter and the threat of wolves, only the essential remains: the affection of parents for their children and the universal bond between animal and human societies as they merge their destinies in an unforgiving environment.
Magsar and Ankhaa are working hard to secure a future for their family’s future. Thanks to them, the children now have a choice: stay on the Great White Steppe, or leave for an uncertain future elsewhere – most likely in the city. From now on, the choice is theirs. Magsar and Ankhaa know this and will respect their individual decisions.
This film was part of VIMFF 2025 and is no longer available for viewing.
For over 30 years, I’ve been introducing generations of young adventurers into the great outdoors, teaching them how to mitigate and embrace the risks that come with it.
More recently, as an extension of my passion for sharing, I’ve started making documentaries about the discoveries that these adventures bring. My film “Loic and the Flolopapys” won the Best Climbing Film award at the Kendal Mountain Film Festival in 2020.
With a Master’s degree from Stanford University and a PhD from the University of Caen, I’ve also been a researcher in collective intelligence, a professor in engineering schools and the founder of several start-ups.
For me, adventure films have always been about more than just showing incredible images. It has to tell a story and convey emotion. It has to take the audience on a transformative journey.
The camera becomes a true member of the adventure, sharing the same difficult conditions. It’s the only way to capture the raw human interaction in action. I shoot on a human level, without effects, dynamic and close, with just a few aerial shots to cast these interactions into the vastness of the great outdoors.
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