Sur les traces du renard

(On the Trail of the Fox)
by Jérôme Bouvier
52', Digital Betacam, Betacam SP, DV-Cam, France, 2007

In search of the ideal place to film wild foxes for his film, The Fox and the Child, the director Jérôme Bouvier and a group of young researchers settled in for five months in the Abruzzo National Park in Italy. Here they resolved to capture the best possible footage of the foxes and, perhaps, get close to these animals who are so shy and mistrustful around men. From the first night of filming, a fox appeared, approached the men, and allowed them to film her with her splendid winter coat. This was to be the start of a friendship between the men and Sosie, the fox.  Searching for her, waiting, losing her tracks and then finding them again, over the seasons, the team of filmmakers and scholars come into contact with the life in the lush forests of the park and with its animals, meeting and filming deer, bears, and even the celebrated wolves. When at last, after many meetings and much preparation, the time comes to film the fox as the true protagonist of their film, The Fox and the Child, Sosie disappears – just as she had appeared out of nowhere – but not without giving the men a final surprise.

Jérôme Bouvier
After studying biology in college, Jérôme Bouvier joined research teams at the CNRS in Lyon; he later became the soundman, cameraman and finally director of nature documentaries.