About
This is the story of the rebirth of Ossona, a hamlet in Val d'Herens in the Valais canton, which was abandoned in the sixties and has now become the pilot project for an agro-tourism site. From 2005 to 2008, we followed the restoration of this site, listed as a sustainable development zone, and those involved in the project.
Some of them are aged between 14 and 16 years old and were born in Haiti, Morocco and Sion. These youth attend an institution for teenagers in difficulty. Can their minds be transformed by tiring work in the mountains? Once a week, through building and farming work, they completely put themselves into restoring this ghost hamlet. The other participants are between 75 and 90 years old. After having spent their childhood in self-sufficiency here in Ossona they left to discover "modern" life when the dams were being built. As witnesses, they have returned to tell their stories... What can representatives of the valley's old folks and multicultural youth have in common? What do they have to talk about, what can they pass on to each other?
The film retraces this adventure up to the end of the first stage with rural self-catering cottages and an inn, but it also recounts the financial, administrative, political and ecological obstacle course faced equally by the commune of St-Martin and the peasant on his land. Yesterday, today and tomorrow. Chronicle of a rebirth. The power of hope.
Reviews
"(Jacqueline Veuve) has filmed, better than anyone, the world of country folk and their disappearing trades. A Little Corner of Paradise takes a deeper look at these themes and transmits a forgotten knowledge to youth." — Presse Locarno
"A Little Corner of Paradise dazzles like a fairy tale and invokes a melancholy for things that no longer exist." — Presse Locarno
"In cinema, there's nothing more difficult than imparting a sense of spontaneity ... to take the viewer to a place as if for the first time, to give her the illusion of experiencing what she sees as if it were a direct transmission. Here Mme. Veuve creates a direct line to paradise!" — Thierry Jobin, Le Temps
Films in the Wood Crafts series
François Pernet, Carpenter and Sculptor
Credits
Coming Soon