A documentary series is a singular format for recounting the surprising adventures of a village in the South of France. For years, Claire Simon set up her camera in the only street in Lussas, which, like the Hollywood studios, brings together all the professions of the documentary film industry. Surrounded by vines and fruit trees, she observes the birth of an online film distribution cooperative. Over the seasons, Jean-Marie, a visionary documentary-lover, Jean-Paul, mayor-farmer, Patrice, who has gone ‘back to the land’, Manu and Vincent who sell their natural wine to Japan, and a whole community of film-loving neo-country-dwellers throw themselves passionately into ambitious, modern and rural undertakings. The film is a collective story of a village anchored in our time, like the fulfilment of a gentle utopia.
Claire Simon was born in London. She first worked as an editor, and then shot several short films and documentaries before making her first feature film, A Foreign Body, in 1997. In addition to working as a director and screenwriter, Claire Simon is a cinematographer and actress.
Récréations (1992), At All Costs (1995), A Foreign Body (1997), 800 km of Difference (2001), Mimi (2002), On Fire (2006), God’s Offices (2008), Gare du Nord (2013), Human Geography (2013), The Woods Dreams Are Made Of (2015), The Competition (2016), Young Solitude (2018)