Visions du Réel 2025: The Mountain Won’t Move (dir. Petra Seliškar) | Review
Petra Seliškar invites us on a carefully crafted sensory journey, offering a glimpse into the complexity of pastoralism, between a deep connection to the unpredictable environment of mountain peaks and questions raised by an uncertain future.
In the mountains of northern Macedonia, three brothers are tasked with leading and watching over two herds in the summer pastures. While the youngest, Zani, remains at a lower altitude with the cows, the two elder brothers, Zekir and Zarif, guide the sheep along the ridges. They are joined, for the season, by the two youngest of the siblings, barely ten years old and still in training. In The Mountain Won’t Move, which premiered at Visions du Réel 2025 in the International Feature Film Competition, Petra Seliškar filmed the daily life of these five shepherd brothers over the course of a summer season. A tribute to a centuries-old profession, now in decline.
Driving the animals from the shelter to the crests along steep slopes, milking them several times a day and turning the milk into cheese, slaughtering a sheep from time to time to feed themselves and the many dogs watching over the herd, chasing away the wolves that prowl at nightfall, finding a few hours of rest before repeating the same tasks, tirelessly, the next day. A demanding daily life, softened by the bonds formed with the animals – the scene of the two youngest trying to build a stone shelter while gently pushing away a small goat seeking affection is a touching example – and between humans: at nightfall, the brothers gather in the cramped shelter to share a frugal meal, kindly squabble, and engage in lively games on the eldest brother’s phone.
With grace and sensitivity, the director captured the fleeting presence of men in these timeless and majestic mountain landscapes, the connection of these shepherds to their immediate environment, and the respect they hold for this land that provides their livelihood. But, also, the doubts that inhabit them, faced with the harshness of the work and the weight of solitude. Thus, in several sequences, the voice-over of the second brother, Zarif, reveals the frustrations accumulated over the seasons. A reflection that recalls Shepherds directed by Sophie Deraspe, which deconstructs the simple and carefree image one might have of a shepherd, while insisting on the necessity of keeping this knowledge alive. More than a profession, it is above all a vocation.
