Synopsis

April, a 5-year-old English girl, is unhappy to move to France.

From Paris, she relocates to Labastide d'Armagnac, the small medieval village where her great-grandfather lived in the South-West of France.

April is not much happier at first in the deserted village but slowly discovers it.

She visits the cemetery where she thinks people are just asleep. On her great-grandfather’s grave she brings flowers, talks to him and strongly believes that he might eventually come back to be with her.

While waiting for him she meets his old friends.

With them she will open to the world, discover her inner self and in turn will transform forever the adults around her.

International press

We've seen quite a few films attempt to penetrate the world of children, but very few have succeeded as well as "April in France." The tenderness and tenacity (...) with which Boaretto explores this almost surreal universe (...), of infinite possibilities, are fascinating. The dynamic editing (...) as well as the poetry and emotional intensity of many scenes are also primordial. A wonderful documentary.

Mihai Fulger (FIPRESCI), Adevarul (Romania)

[April's] greatest desire becomes that of bringing [her great-grandfather] back to life, so that she can get to know him. If this had actually happened on screen, I don't think viewers would have been very surprised. Indeed, the world represented by Boaretto, adopting the candid point of view of his child, is surreal (it is no coincidence that the great-grandfather of the filmmaker - and the author of the final quote - is the poet Paul Éluard), and its possibilities unlimited. (…) "April in France" is a joyful and stimulating film, made with great tenderness.

Observator cultural (Romania)

Some recent documentaries are made with such skill, sometimes even such mastery, that they look like art films (...). This is the case with "April in France", an invitation to discover the world through the eyes of a child.

Adrian Țion, LiterNet (Romania)

A subtle exploration of humanity's relationship with nature.

G. Archontis, Exostis (Greece)

One of the best documentary films and one of the most comforting at the Apricot d'Or this year (…) Complex and seemingly difficult to digest themes are, thanks to April's witty and curious thoughts and Boaretto's camera, keeping his distance and with a minimum of interference, served in the almost vintage style of good French cinema of yesteryear. It's like inviting the public into the French countryside to talk about ancestors and life.

Diana Martirosyan (FIPRESCI), Evnmag (Armenia)

Boaretto also shows that he is in full control of his film. (…) The discretely designed audio landscape is further filled with Sacha Lounis' original music that always hits the right mood. In the end, April en France works both on a personal level for the filmmaker and his subject, as well as on a wider psychological and even philosophical plane for the way in which it captures the reality and the emotional picture of growing up and facing the world.

Marko Stojiljković (Cineuropa) [Link]

The audience is deeply touched by the values conveyed, the simplicity, the innocence, the naturalness, the openness, the gift of observation, the carefreeness and the depth (...) The childish vision of life, death, old age, simple relationships, the way of moving from one subject to another, of putting gravity or lightness, are treated with accuracy and tenderness.

La Dépêche (France)

Photos

April and her great-grandfather

April and Alain

April in the Pyrenees

April and her great-grandfather

1/4

Director's statement

Despite being shot as a documentary, April in France takes the form of a philosophical tale.

Following April on her way to maturity we are confronted, through symbolic scenes and not without humor, to today’s great subjects. For example preserving nature: April brings her garden back to life, watering it of course, but also touching the plants, talking to them and naming them.

The film also highlights the importance of intergenerational transmission, which is surprisingly not limited to a one way gift, but functions also from children to adults.

In fact April shares her magical beliefs with her new friends and they enter her child world whole-heartedly, never challenging it. It is the double-movement of the construction of human beings: leaving this magical kingdom to confront real life and then looking for solace in the “beautiful colored world” of a long lost childhood.

Finally at a time when theaters, cinemas, museums and operas where shutting down, the film endeavors to show through the child’s discovery of music, photography and literature that culture and sharing it as part of a common experience results in a fundamental contribution to our personal development and happiness.

Opening up to others and sharing is at the heart of April’s entire journey and the film reminds us that in today’s world, children and adults can’t blossom online and that the future of humanity is not in a computer generated Metaverse…

Conceived at a time of angst for the future of our children (the pandemic, the rise of populism, climate change, etc.), the film ended up, through the child’s energy and relentlessness, breathing of optimism. It felt at the end of that summer that like every generation, April’s will need to overcome serious obstacles, but that if they stuck together and believed in their own power, they could pull through and prevail. This is the meaning of the end of summer lunch she organizes in her garden with all her friends. Children and adults come together, we can’t hear what they say but nothing more needs saying then.

Festival selection