Festival du Film Paysan en Ardèche

A traveling festival led by farmers

The Festival du Film Paysan en Ardèche is a traveling cinematographic event organized by the Confédération Paysanne de l'Ardèche. Created in 2023, this festival takes place every year in January throughout the department, with screenings spread across about fifteen municipalities in Ardèche. The founding idea is simple and strong: to use documentary cinema to take agriculture out of its echo chamber and create a dialogue between farmers and citizens around agricultural and food issues.

Fifteen screenings in fifteen municipalities

Each edition of the festival programs about fifteen documentary film screenings on the themes of agriculture, food, and rural life. The films are shown in municipal halls, associative cinemas, and cultural spaces throughout Ardèche, from Les Vans to Lanarce, from Privas to Tournon-sur-Rhône, including Aubenas, Ruoms, Le Teil, Saint-Agrève, Vernoux-en-Vivarais, and Désaignes. This territorial network allows the festival to reach diverse audiences, including in towns without a cinema.

Discussions with farmers

Each screening is followed by a time for discussion with farmers organized in local groups for each territory. These discussions allow spectators to compare the issues raised by the films with the reality on the ground, to ask questions, and to better understand the challenges faced by farmers in Ardèche. This participatory format is at the heart of the festival's approach, which aims to be a space for meeting and dialogue between the agricultural world and civil society.

Committed and accessible cinema

The films selected by the festival address various topics related to agriculture and food: peasant agriculture, ecological transition, short supply chains, food sovereignty, farmers' rights, and the toxic secrets of industrial agriculture. In 2026, the 4th edition notably screened the films *Manger pour Vivre*, *Leurs Champs du Cœur*, *Secrets Toxiques*, *Droits dans Leurs Bottes*, and *La Ferme Derrière Chez Moi*. Some screenings are accompanied by the director for direct exchanges with the audience.

Free admission

All screenings at the Festival du Film Paysan are accessible free of charge (donation-based), in line with the Confédération Paysanne's desire to make the festival accessible to all. The poster for each edition is entrusted to an Ardèche artist: in 2026, it was Marion Fayolle, a renowned illustrator from Ardèche, who created the festival poster.