Trail & District Arts Council presents Monday Cinema: Shepherds (Bergers) on Monday, February 24 at 4 pm at The Royal Theatre, 1597 Bay Ave., Trail.
The story of a Montréal copywriter, Mathyas Lefebure who, following a medical wake-up call, abandons his life in Canada to reinvent himself as a sheep herder in the French Alps in Provence.
After a rough start, he’s joined by Élise, a civil servant he met while trying to legalize his employment status in France, who has been tempted by his stories of pastoral life.
Lefebure’s questing nature and hard work to gain the respect of his fellow bergers is highlighted by Élise’s life-changing, impulsive decision to join Mathyaas which is as fulfilling as it is difficult. Together they commit to a summer in the grandiose and wild landscapes on the mountainside with one border collie and 800 sheep.
Sophie Deraspe has made a naturalistic, beautiful adaptation of the real-life Lefebure’s 2006 semi-autobiographical novel “Where Do You Come From, Shepherd?”. Shot in Provence with the participation of real breeders and real shepherds (some of whom play roles on screen) the film looks at the messy and often brutal realities of a shepherding life, while showing us the beauty of nature that draws people to work on the land.
Dir: Sophie Deraspe / Featuring: Félix-Antoine Duval, Solène Rigot / Country: Canada, France / Language: French / Duration: 1 hr 53 mins / Genre: Drama / Rating: Not yet rated SUBTITLES
“A hymn to freedom,...Bergers makes you want to go on an adventure, commune with nature and bite into life…a gentle, moving and deeply human film that absolutely must be seen on the big screen.” - Maxime Demers, Le Journal de Montréal
Watch the trailer https://youtu.be/t_k-hFtaMZk
Best Canadian Feature Film Award, TIFF (2024)
Content advisory: simulated animal violence; sexual content, nudity, coarse language
The Monday Cinema series is part of the Toronto International Film Festival Film Circuit and is presented by Trail and District Arts Council at The Royal Theatre, 1597 Bay Avenue, Trail.
Tickets $13 at tickets.trail-arts.com or call the Box Office at 250-368-9669 Monday to Friday from 12-4 pm. Only 143 tickets are available for this screening. If tickets are available, they will go on sale at the venue when the doors open 30 minutes before the screening.
Upcoming Films in the Monday Cinema series:
Mar. 3: The Room Next Door - Pedro Almodóvar directs powerhouse performances from Academy Award® winners Julianne Moore and Tilda Swinton as Ingrid and Martha, close friends in their youth brought back together after years of being out of touch, in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.
Mar. 10: Universal Language - In a mysterious and surreal reimagined Winnipeg, where Persian and French are the two official languages, a group of children go on eccentric quests, a man leads a group of increasingly befuddled tourists through the city, and a man returns home to find his family is not what he remembered.