Fario

“As a granddaughter of farmers, it was important to me to address the subject of suicides in the agricultural community, which in France are on the rise. And I chose to approach this phenomenon from a son’s point of view. For Léo, what remains after the loss of a parent? What kind of connection does he have with his family’s land? Léo’s inner trauma manifests itself through the fantastical. Through his hallucinatory and obsessive investigations, he explores feelings he has buried to process his grief.

The question of life was truly the starting point. It revolved around the idea that people do not own life; rather, they are life itself. Since I didn’t want to create a purely militant film, I aimed to portray the suicide of a farmer through a more intimate, nuanced narrative. Farmers have a special relationship with our planet and its resources, and I depicted the family dynamic that includes a son, a daughter, and a nephew – those who are left behind.

For me, Fario is also a film about youth. What role does this youth play in society? Which hopes and problems are they grappling with?”

Lucie Prost