Désert blanc

This picture was filmed in Alberta, Canada, which is not a native habitat for lemmings. They were imported from Manitoba for use in the film, and were purchased from Inuit children by the filmmakers. The Arctic rodents were placed on a snow-covered turntable and filmed from various angles to produce a "migration" sequence; afterwords, the helpless creatures were transported to a cliff overlooking a river and herded into the water. The entire sequence was faked using a handful of lemmings deceptively photographed to create the illusion of a large herd of migrating creatures. It was this film that perpetuated the myth in popular culture of lemming suicide, something that's never been reported to have occurred in real life.

Contrary to popular belief repeated in this film, lemmings do not commit suicide en masse by jumping off cliffs into the sea. However cyclical population explosions do induce lemmings to migrate to unfamiliar territory where they are crowded and prone to accidents such as falling off cliffs or drowning but these are not considered suicide in any sense.

Edited into Merveilles de la nature (1975)