Far Beyond the Pasturelands

Far Beyond the Pasturelands
FrenchAu-delà des hautes vallées
Directed byMaude Plante-Husaruk
Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis
Written byMaude Plante-Husaruk
Produced byClotilde Vatrinet
CinematographyMaude Plante-Husaruk
Edited byMaude Plante-Husaruk
Music byMaxime Lacoste-Lebuis
Distributed byLes Films du 3 Mars
Release date
  • November 2021 (2021-11) (RIDM)
Running time
84 minutes
CountryCanada
LanguageFrench

Far Beyond the Pasturelands (French: Au-delà des hautes vallées) is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Maude Plante-Husaruk and Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis and released in 2021.[1] The film centres on a small rural village in Nepal, whose residents support themselves by foraging for yarsagumba, a rare but highly valuable fungus that grows out of the decomposing bodies of dead caterpillars in Nepal and Tibet.[2]

The film highlights both the economic exploitation of the villagers, who are paid just a few dollars for their harvest even though the dealer can sell it for over $18,000 per kilogram at market, and the unsustainable overharvesting that threatens to destroy the entire supply chain.[3]

The film premiered at the 2021 Montreal International Documentary Festival,[4] before going into wider commercial release in 2022.[5]

  1. ^ Magalie Lapointe-Libier, "Le documentaire «Au-delà des hautes vallées»: la mise en images de l’ouverture à l’autre". Bible Urbaine, December 7, 2022.
  2. ^ Paolo Kagaoan, "It Takes A Village: Our Review of ‘Au-delà des hautes vallées’". In the Seats, January 3, 2023.
  3. ^ Pat Mullen, "Far Beyond the Pasturelands Review: The Gold Rush". Point of View, January 2, 2023.
  4. ^ Nick Krewen, "Nine Canadian world premieres set for RIDM". Playback, October 21, 2021.
  5. ^ Olivier Du Ruisseau, "«Au-delà des hautes vallées»: entre tradition et modernité". Le Devoir, December 9, 2022.