After Winter, Spring
February 25, 2015 USA (DVD) After Winter, Spring is 2012 documentary film, produced, directed and narrated by Judith Lit.
[3][4] Set in the Périgord region of southwest France, the film follows the lives of farming families and individuals in the community as they confront challenges that the changing geopolitical and economic landscapes pose.
[11] The fertile land that contains many natural resources has made it possible for farmer families to continue their practices through hundreds of generations and through the multiple empires and nations that have occupied and fought over the area.
[12] "Despite the fact that the population of farms decreased by one quarter compared to 2000 (–173,830), in 2010 France was among the EU Member States with the highest number of holdings.
Growth in mega-farm numbers, reduction of agricultural subsidies, and new laws threaten the existence of farmers and their long-lasting practices.
Guy Phélip and Nanou Bouchat, as well as other community individuals farming in a small town of 100 in the Périgord region of southwest France, are interviewed.
Having moved from The United States, Lit explains that she noticed the same warning signs in her small town in France as she did on her family's farm in Pennsylvania.
Between one hundred years ago and the time the film was shot, the rural farming population decreased over ten-fold in France.
The interviews are told in parallel with shots of the fields, foliage, country side, farming, empty barns and backyard gardens.
She says "I don't miss the days of wooden shoes," but she also laments the change in farming as a way of life to a "business susceptible to investment, profitability, and bankruptcy."
Lit continues, regardless of French or American subsidies, the farmers' way of life is easily affected by the legislation of politicians and susceptible to new regulation.
[3] These include Dark Circle, a documentary about the perils of the nuclear arms race and Voices from the Classroom, a film about the impact of violence in media on children.
[6] After living in San Francisco, Lit moved to the Périgord region of France where she filmed interviews of her farmer neighbors to complete After Winter, Spring.
Lit set out to meet with project consultants Chris Beaver, Nancy Spanier, Jane Weiner, and Alice Elliott to generate ideas.
[3] Collaborating with Stéphane Carbon, the cinematographer, and Todd Boekelheide, the composer of the original music, After Winter, Spring filming took place over four years, and was released in 2012.
She continues, commenting on the artistic perspective and contents of the film, stating that it contains "... exquisite images of family farms in the Dordogne and moving interviews with local farmers."
Griffin draws larger inferences about the impact of the documentary calling it "profound," and stating that it creates an "understanding of what it means to live in concordance and partnership with the earth.
He asserts Lit "settled in Périgord for the last fifteen years, took her time (four years) to observe, to listen, to melt into the silences,"[20] and finally that "distant memories of her Pennsylvania childhood where her father and grandfather worked the family farm converged with her neighbors' story and from this intimate and sensitive union was born a beautiful journey.
"[20] AXS entertainment's humanistic review comments on the farmers of the town, saying "None of these folk have any formal education, or are particularly worldly; they continually refer to themselves as 'peasants' as a source of pride.
