The last film by the late Pema Tseden, the innovative Chinese-Tibetan director who passed away unexpectedly last year at the age of 53, Snow Leopard continues to explore themes present in his earlier works. In his previous films, such as Tharlo (2015) and Balloon (2019), which delve into spirituality, politics, and birth control, Tseden examined the tension between tradition and modernity within Tibetan culture.

In this film, we follow a local TV crew as they cover the story of an endangered snow leopard that has been captured by a herding family after it killed nine of their sheep. The family is divided over what to do with the leopard: the passionate older brother advocates for its slaughter, while his monk brother and their father believe that the leopard, seen as the spirit of the mountains, should be saved. The film is beautifully shot, but despite its mystical moments and the use of CGI for wildlife, it doesn't quite capture the grounded poetry found in some of Tseden's earlier films.