The Russian Geographical Society Festival saw the premiere of the educational film The Snow Leopard at the Sayano-Shushensky Nature Reserve, which tells the story of one of the most mysterious big cats inhabiting the Russian wilds. The film was made by researchers at Sayano-Shushensky together with the Abakan film studio.

The film takes an audience-friendly approach to educating viewers about the snow leopard’s habitat, physical characteristics, colour, and diet. It includes images from camera traps, panoramic views of the nature reserves inhabited by snow leopards, and animated segments. According to one of the film’s producers, Irina Sannikova, what sets the film apart is its footage of the snow leopard, the first ever recorded in our country’s history. “Prior to that, we had several documentaries about snow leopards. And then we realised that we needed a kind of a populist film that would be interesting and educational to people who do not encounter this on a daily basis and who are not familiar with this part of the natural world, with this topic. This film is not scientific but educational. I think we succeeded, especially considering that we also added some animation and really put our hearts into it,” Sannikova said.