Island Cowboy

Blueberry Waggle Dance

January 2024 •English

It's a warm spring night, and the bee cowboys of Prince Edward Island begin rounding up their hives.

Modern Life

October 2008 •French

For ten years, Raymond Depardon has followed the lives of farmer living in the mountain ranges. He allows us to enter their farms with astounding naturalness. This moving film speaks, with great serenity, of our roots and of the future of the people who work on the land. This the last part of Depardon's triptych "Profils paysans" about what it is like to be a farmer today in an isolated highland area in France. "La vie moderne" examines what has become of the persons he has followed for ten years, while featuring younger people who try to farm or raise cattle or poultry, come hell or high water.

Tu nourriras le monde

March 2022 •French

The Last Pig

August 2017 •English

An intimate reflection on animal treatment, following ethical pig farmer, Bob Comis, as he contemplates his transition out of raising animals for slaughter.

Les influenceurs sont dans le pré

February 2024 •French

Profils paysans : l'approche

May 2001 •French

The first of a documentary serie about rural France.

Profils paysans : le quotidien

February 2005 •French

Second documentary of a trilogy produced on the long term (together with Profils paysans: l'approche (2001) and Profils paysans: La vie moderne (2008)), showing the simple lives of farmers in contemporary Southern France.

À nos terres : Autonomia paisana

March 2024 •French

The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid

November 2017 •English

The story of Irish farmer Thomas Reid who, for years, has been locked in a grueling battle with his neighbor - U.S. microchip manufacturer Intel who want to expand into Reid’s land.

Sepp Holzer's Secrets of Eden

Invalid date •English

Filmmaker Claudia Hefner showcases the Kramerterhof, an Alpine estate which Sepp Holzer has transformed from an ordinary farm into a paragon of permaculture. Spectacular aerial photography helps viewers to appreciate the magnificence of the landscape and the efficiency of the property.

Cocalero

January 2007 •Spanish

A documentary centered on the union formed by Bolivian farmers in response to their government's (which was urged by the U.S.) effort eradicate coca crops, and the man who would come to represent them, Evo Morales.

Lohnunternehmen Reiff - Der Film Vol.1

January 2014 •German

La détresse au bout du rang

March 2020 •French

CircleSpeak

January 2005 •English

Shot in Southern England over the course of six weeks by a crew of three American filmmakers, CircleSpeak offers a nuanced look at the passions and beliefs of the people immersed in the crop circle phenomenon during the season of 2001. This feature-length documentary presents interviews with serious “researchers”, self-proclaimed “hoaxers”, local farmers and villagers who are all, in one way or another, involved in this strange and compelling summer spectacle taking place year after year.

The Blueberry Blues

Invalid date •French

Summer unveils a new blueberry season in northern Canada. The fields are covered in blue and workers from all over scramble before the frost puts an end to the harvest. And yet this time of year is much more than just picking: it's a time of music and connection.

A Life on the Farm

May 2023 •English

A strange story from Somerset, England about a filmmaking farmer and the inspiring legacy of his long-lost home movies.

Audrey of the Alps

December 2012 •English

The personal story of a young woman in her early 20's who escapes societies expectations and becomes a sheepherder for a summer season.

God's Country

November 1985 •English

In 1979, Louis Malle films the thriving lives of a Minnesota farming community, but returns six years later to document its drastic economic decline, offering a poignant look at the impact of political changes.

Het is een schone dag geweest

November 1993 •Dutch

Documentary about the last four seasons on the farm run by the director's parents. The film starts on 1 January 1992, at 6 am and ends in a misty landscape at the end of that year. Het is een schone dag geweest (It's been a beautiful day) shows the end of a farm venture for which no successor has been found, but also the disappearance of a traditional way of life. Modern agriculture is ruled by new regulations, largely made in Brussels. Lonely work on a noisy machine replaces hard but communal work on the land. In a disciplined style, the film shows the disappearance of a traditional lifestyle in part of Holland. Het is een schone dag geweest was ïn 2007 admitted to the "Canon van de Nederlandse Film", a list of the most important Dutch films. (filmcommission.nl)

The Way of the Shaman Drum

January 2017 •Chinese

During the Cultural Revolution in China in the late 20th century, ethnic Manchu people were persecuted and forced to give up such cultural traditions as the shaman dance (tiao tchin, meaning "spirit-jumping" or "god's dance"). However, on Changbai Mountain in Northeast China, a farmer named Guan Yunde decided to start designing and building traditional Manchu shaman drums. At age 70, he is one of a minority of ethnic Manchu people in China's Jilin province, and one of the few people keeping the Manchu shamanic tradition alive.