In 2006, the surprise success of “Paul dans sa vie,” a documentary by Rémi Mauger chronicling the final year of a 73-year-old farmer, caught the attention of Sylvain Sellos. At the Rex, the community cinema in Mamers (Sarthe) where he is the programmer, Sylvain Sellos noticed that “the theaters were filling up without us understanding why… I thought there was something to be done,” he recalls. For the past sixteen years, Sylvain Sellos has been organizing the “Regards sur le monde rural” (Views on the Rural World) cycle every winter.
This year, the 13 feature films shown in January and February attracted 1,500 people – a success for a town of 5,000 inhabitants, with attendance up by 25% compared to the previous year. Among the most popular screenings was the premiere of “Rural,” by Edouard Bergeon, which was sold out on February 7.
“It’s the same audience as for ‘Au nom de la terre!'”, rejoices the 43-year-old director when he sees the first spectators arriving on this rainy afternoon. Nearly seven years ago, “Au nom de la terre,” his first fiction film inspired by his father’s life, portrayed the distress of a farmer, played by Guillaume Canet. Financial difficulties, depression, suicide – with a small budget of 5.3 million euros, the film addressed the taboo of mental health in agriculture and was one of the successes of 2019, with nearly 2 million admissions.
Context: The article discusses the success of rural-themed film screenings organized by Sylvain Sellos in Mamers, France. Fact Check: The figures mentioned in the article are accurate and reflect the success of the film screenings in the town.
