La Vallée des montreurs d'ours

"La Vallée des montreurs d'ours" proposes an approach to human life in the valley of Ustou in the Pyrénées in Ariège, from the middle of the last century to the present day. It highlights the economic reasons which, long ago, forced the peasants to imagine other ways of surviving, among others, the astonishing creation of an industry of bear leaders which, until 1914, encouraged the first massive exodus of people from the valley to America. It is the story of all the peasants in the world that this century and the previous one pushed on to the roads of the world ; the film is a document which is faithful to the historic reality, a profoundly moving testimony to the peasants of this valley that the film-maker followed for twenty years.