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Program Note

Mathyas, once an executive at an advertising agency in Montreal, gives up his life in the big city to become a shepherd in the South of France. With no knowledge of how to herd sheep, the countryside appears to him as a kind of utopia. But even as he confronts the stark reality of pastoral life, he does not turn away. 

Instead, he joins Elise—who once worked as a visa officer—on a new path, and begins to find a direction of his own.

The strength of Shepherds lies in its refusal to reduce the contrast between city and countryside, the artificial and the natural, to a simple dichotomy. Through Mathyas's journey of growth, the film reveals how taking responsibility for a herd of sheep is ultimately no different from taking responsibility for one's own life. The film’s potentially didactic stance is softened by its choice to seek answers in the natural landscape. Witnessing the vast natural scenery of southern France on screen, one begins to catch a faint sense of the essence of life that resists human control. This is the second feature from director Sophie Deraspe, whose Antigone was a festival hit across the globe. (LEE Dongyun)​