Between the Sacred and the Wild

The so-called “human-bear conflict” may appear, on the surface, to be a conflict between humans and animals. But beneath this apparent conflict lie much more complex tensions: changes in ways of life, ecological transformation, and the tension between the sacredness of religious belief and the increasingly secular, everyday reality of the bear.I hope the film does not pass judgment, but instead presents the perspectives of different parties and allows the audience to see the complexity of the situation. When different forms of life share the same land, how can they coexist? Perhaps coexistence is not a fixed solution, but a process of constant negotiation and of continually redefining and finding boundaries. Perhaps a documentary cannot solve a real-world problem. But it can allow a story that once belonged only to a particular place to be seen and understood by more people, and to continue generating conversations among different people. Perhaps that is where the significance of this film lies.