Lynx

LYNX is a nature film that goes beyond the usual boundaries of the genre. An essential characteristic of the lynx is that it hides from view (and from the camera). As a result, Franz Reichle takes a highly imaginative approach to tracking down the animal, including interviews with zoologists, gamekeepers and farmers. The lynx can also be seen as a barometer for ecological balance; ultimately, nature itself becomes the subject of this film. The search for the lynx develops into an essay about our treatment of these wild cats and the living spaces we share with them. With the same precision and complexity used by the lynx experts in following the object of their research, Reichle questions and criticises our understanding of nature. In this way, the arguments of the researchers as well as those opposing the lynx are revealed to be questionable: the lynx does not seem to have a place in either the technologically advanced world or the prejudice-ridden farming environment. The great accomplishment of this film is to demonstrate that this kind of reflection ultimately reveals much more about the nature of the lynx than would be possible in a conventional animal documentary.
Jury of the Zurich Film Prize