In a quiet, rural, French village surrounded by vineyards and cherry and pear orchards, something special has been happening.
For 40 years, a film festival in Lussas has championed filmmakers, but determined locals are keen to take an unusual next step…to set up both a documentary school and a streaming platform for independent documentary filmmakers that can help bring their work to the world.
Over a fascinating four-year period, filmmaker Claire Simon records the ups and downs of the challenging project, her handheld observational style perfect to record this focussed and hard-working community as they turn a dream into a reality. Their challenge reflects that of setting up a film – the constant battle between commerce and culture as they have to sell their dream both to funders and subscribers.
Lussas is a commune in the Ardèche department in southern France where there has long been a tradition of wine and fruit being central to life in the community. But it has also developed as a cultural centre and during August plays host to the European Film Documentary Festival, which brings together some 5,000 professional and amateur filmmakers. Now the Documentary School of Lussas offers training courses in documentary, screenwriting, directing and production.
The Grocer’s Son, The Mayor, The Village and The World (Le fils de l’epiciere, le Maire, le village et le monde) is a charming fly-on-the-wall documentary in which Simon balances all sides of the developing story, as Mayor of the village Jean-Paul Roux and Jean-Marie Barbe (whose former family grocery story is headquarters to the operation) set about trying to do something rather special.
These include complex plans to set up a subscription-based digital platform dedicated to authored documentary films, the same films that have been programmed by the festival in the village. The village itself provides a perfect pastoral backdrop to the story, especially in those scenes when outsiders descend on the small community to watch films in pop-up cinemas and at outdoor screenings on inflatable screens. Some locals regard these incomers as an invasion of sorts, while at the same time the festival organisers are frustrated that, despite offering free tickets to villagers, few attend the screenings.
That juxtaposition between the classic image of a small French village where fruit and wine are the long-time heartbeat of the community and an ambition to bring something new and possibly controversial to the community makes for an intriguing and ultimately enthralling story. The central pair of Roux and Barbe can veer between prickly and charming but are united in their determination to keep moving forward. It is not an easy journey but it is a fascinating one.
Director: Claire Simon
France-Belgium, 2020, 111mins
Production: Petit A Petit Production, Les Filmes de la Caravane, Clin d’Oeil
International sales: AndanaFilms
Producer: Rebecca Houzel
Cinematography: Claire Simon
Editor: Luc Forveille
Music: Nicolas Repac
With: Jean-Marie Barbe, Jean-Paul Roux
