A nos enfants glorieux

Author and director Sonia Chiambretto continues her exploration of today’s youth, this time immersing herself in the rural world. A poetic and political inquiry rooted in fieldwork.

After working with young people in the outlying neighborhoods of major French cities, Sonia Chiambretto returns with a new production, the result of a two-year artist residency in rural areas, particularly in the Pays Baugeois region. “Trapped by assumptions about their own identity, rural youth find themselves shouldering the heavy burden of national identity. Confined to a supposed inclination toward tradition and a spirit of conservatism, these young people—whose voices are co-opted by the media—are said to stand in opposition to youth in urban suburbs. But what do we really know about it?” Sonia Chiambretto asks: “Is rural youth traditional? Do they wear TNs? Do they make TikTok videos of their romantic entanglements? What are the romantic fantasies of a young hunter?”