Far Beyond the Pasturelands

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]

Far Beyond the Pasturelands
French	Au-delà des hautes vallées
Directed by	Maude Plante-Husaruk Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis
Written by	Maude Plante-Husaruk
Produced by	Clotilde Vatrinet
Cinematography	Maude Plante-Husaruk
Edited by	Maude Plante-Husaruk
Music by	Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis
Distributed by	Les Films du 3 Mars
Release date	November 2021 (2021-11) (RIDM)
Running time	84 minutes
Country	Canada
Language	French

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]

Awards

Award	Date of ceremony	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref.
Prix Iris	December 10, 2023	Best Cinematography in a Documentary	Maude Plante-Husaruk	Nominated	[6]
		Best Original Music in a Documentary	Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis	Nominated
		Best Sound in a Documentary	Maxime Lacoste-Lebuis, Eric Shaw, Jean Paul Vialard	Nominated