“HARVEST” by Paul Lacoste (France, 2014) wins the sixth edition of the Healthy Workplaces Film Award at the 57th International DOK Leipzig Festival. The film offers an unusual look at a precarious job between poverty and self-determination.
Synopsis:
South of France, mid-September. 20 men and women, all broken by life, gather to harvest the good Lord’s grapes. During the harvest, the twenty grape-pickers will endure heat waves, sticky hands, clipper-induced blisters, waged grape battles and experience short-lived friendships. They will face the October storms and will have passionate discussions. Somehow, a kind of a utopic community will emerge…
Jury statement:
‘“There is no easy way of life”, says one of the characters in this meaningful film which develops a carefully crafted narrative through a flowing storyline and a visual approach in unison with the landscape. The characters are treated with dignity and respect and beneath the small talk there are deeper stories to be told; sub-plots emerge, each one like a small fruit on the bunches of grapes they are picking. A special community is described through impressive images in the style of an impressionist painting, producing a complete film with strong detail – true to nature and true to its protagonists.’