Land of Men (1991)

Overview

Denis Villeneuve created this film during his participation in the third season of La Course Destination Monde, a show broadcast on Radio-Canada in which contestants travelled to different regions of the world to make short films about their journeys. During the penultimate program broadcast on March 25, 1991, the young filmmaker presented Terra Des Hommes as his closing film. Shot in Tibet, the short introduces us to a community that lives among Yaks, large ruminant mammals. Chantal Jolis, a judge of the competition, said of the film: "What I felt there was a farewell to something essential, at the same time as a testament to the race." Villeneuve ulitmately won that year's edition of La Course Destination Monde. Notably, the film features the track "Trip to Arrakis" by TOTO, composed for David Lynch's 1984 adaptation of Frank Herbert's DUNE. Villeneuve would later go on to helm his own adaptation of the novel and it's sequel, DUNE Messiah.