A Bird's‐Eye View of L eviathan

How can we understand the ecosophical approach of a film like L eviathan , which refuses conventions of representational filmmaking? Drawing on R aymond R uyer's notion of survoler , or self‐survey, to describe a mode of witnessing without distance, this article explores two aspects of self‐survey in L ucien C astaing‐ T aylor and Véréna P aravel's groundbreaking work of sensory ethnography. Both the ubiquitous seagulls and the innovative use of G o P ro cameras here propose witnessing as an ethico‐aesthetical act in a way that challenges documentary norms.