Format/Structure

Screening and discussion of "Tomorrow, the Valley", an inspiring documentary born from participatory research in the French Pyrenees. Unexpectedly successfull, the film offers hope, fosters empathy in polarized contexts, and encourages audiences to act collectively for just transformations.

Long Abstract

This workshop proposes a screening and discussion of the documentary film Tomorrow, the Valley, which results from a collaboration between a researcher and a filmmaker. The aim is to explore the potential role of emotions and art-based approaches in fostering just transformations in increasingly polarized societies, by nurturing mutual empathy and generating transformative power.

This documentary takes the audience into a valley in the French Pyrenees, in Ariège, to meet women and men who, in all their diversity, live and work on these lands. In a context marked by strong oppositions between traditional livestock farmers and neo-rural organic farmers, a three-year participatory action research project created a safe space for their voices to be heard. Through art-based methodologies such as creative writing, participants were able to confront their visions, share emotions and deeply held values, and collectively explore what just transformations of their valley could look like.

The entire process was followed by a filmmaker, who turned it into a highly aesthetic and sensitive documentary. The film has met with unexpected success, with more than 350 screening-debates organized in France and internationally over the past two years. What motivates these screenings is, first and foremost, an inspiring film that offers hope and invites action. Many territories have used the film to initiate or strengthen collective dynamics around land use and food sovereignty. Organizers also see it as an invitation to move beyond divisions and prejudices about different agricultural models, prolonging and expanding mutual empathy far beyond the Pyrenees valley.

This POLLEN side event is proposed by Cécile Barnaud, the researcher who facilitated the participatory research and collaborated with the filmmaker. After the 62-minute screening, a discussion with participants will reflect on the role of art–science collaborations and emotions in supporting more just transformations, and on how, through the film, research can become a story that in turn inspires action.

Teaser of the film : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8bHgQ3-5K4