Alcarràs

Alcarràs is the name of the rural Catalan village where, in the story of the film, the Solé family of farmers risk losing their orchard and home after growing and harvesting peaches there for generations. It's also the place where director-screenwriter Carla Simón herself grew up as the daughter of peach farmers. She knows it's more than a family business, it's a way of life passed on from parent to child. With this bittersweet portrait, Simón lives up to the promise of her debut Estiu 1993 (2017) and won the Golden Bear at the Berlinale earlier this year. Alcarràs' gentle resistance transcends current events and politics. The spectator witnesses both the Solés' adversities and their small moments of happiness, naturalistically performed by non-professional actors from surrounding villages. As a filmmaker too, Simón masters the art of harvesting.

"The power of Alcarràs lies in the filmmaker’s care for and understanding of her subject which, as with Summer 1993, is a story taken from her own life and examined on screen with a deceiving charm that gives way to a deeply emotional narrative." - Little White Lies