by Mathieu Orcel

“I take the last flight out of Paris before the borders close, travelling to Argentina to shoot the second half of a film that is two years in the making – the story of Pedro Luca, an 83-year-old who has lived in a cave by himself for longer than I have been alive.

But as I land in Buenos Aires, the city goes into lockdown.

“Suddenly, I am as isolated as Pedro – him in a cave in the middle of the Tucuman mountains; me hundreds of miles away in an apartment on the second floor of a concrete block, with a small balcony as my only window to the world.

“It takes me two days to fully realise that: 1) I am not going to be able to see anyone and 2) I am not going to be able to film either, at least not in the normal way. There I am, alone in my urban jungle, like a caged cougar.

“More than 1,300km (850 miles) away in the wilderness, Pedro has his own cougar to worry about – the mountain lion stalking his surroundings and picking off the goats whenever it gets hungry.

“Cougars for Pedro, coronavirus for city dwellers – we are all faced with our predators, our fears, and our instincts.”

Click here to read this article at Al Jazeera in its entirety.