Astrakan

A tough-but-tender evocation of rural childhood as seen through the eyes of its waywardly precocious protagonist, ASTRAKAN ranks high among this year’s most impressive debuts. It takes place among the rugged splendors of Morvan, a Dordogne region which has long been favored by the Parisian authorities as a preferred destination for the raising of foster-children: literary giant Jean Genet is the most famous example. Based on his research into the “Morvan children,” writer-director David Depesseville crafts an engrossing, empathetic and entrancing character-study built on the slender shoulders of outstanding newcomer Mirko Giannini. He is front-and-center throughout as Samuel, whose foster-parents Marie (Jehnny Beth, of British rock-band Savages) and Clément take in children for reasons more financial than altruistic. When Samuel’s complex psychology and his nurturing needs prove beyond this young couple, he is sent to live on Marie’s parents’ farm; this proves to be less than the safest of havens. A coming-of-age story of unusual intelligence, stylistic distinction and formal originality, ASTRAKAN is named after the prized dark fleece of newborn lambs: a seed of symbolism which finds full flowering in Depesseville’s remarkable, operatic finale. (Neil Young)

In the presence of David Depesseville.

David Depesseville: CI-GÎT L’AMOUR (2005), LE DÉPEUPLÉ (2007), LES LENDEMAINS QUI CHANTENT (2008), LA DERNIÈRE PLAINE (2012), GABY BABY DOLL (2014)