SHEPHERDS

Mathyas, an aspiring writer, trades his life in Montreal as a young advertising executive for that of a shepherd in the South of France. But the road to his desired pastoral tranquillity is filled with hard work. A visit from Elise, a civil servant who boldly quit her job, gives Mathyas’ quest a new direction. Together, they embark on a transhumance. Facing the challenges of the mountains, with a herd to take care of, they will forge a new life for themselves. 

(Unifrance) 

• Deraspe’s cinema is certainly not radical, as confirmed by the attempt to make the emotional crescendo tangible with the music written by Philippe Brault, but it demonstrates a sincere love for the spaces of the landscape and the transformation of his characters, bodies that share with the myth the conciliation between the monstrous and the sublime.
  (Indie. eye.it) 

• Shepherds’ poetic naturalism finds a perfect embodiment, too, in Duval’s soulful performance. His Mathyas is a down-to-earth soul who beautifully finds harmony with the natural rhythms of the landscape. Duval (Saint-Narcisse) plays the stray philosopher as a sensitive soul—inquisitive, introspective, yet the kind of calm and strong figure with the wherewithal to transform from a metropolitan yuppie into a countrified farmhand.
  (That Shelf) 

• Sophie Deraspe’s pastoral exploration of a Montreal copywriter turned alpine shepherd is a visually stunning meditation that ultimately feels familiar, yet quietly compelling. This is one I wished I hadn’t screened at home because the cinematography begs to be seen on a big screen, capturing the majestic French Alps in all their rugged, grass flowing in the wind beauty.
  (The MN Movie Man) 

• Festival du Film Francophone de Grèce – Greece 2025 
• TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) – Canada, 2024 
• Zurich Film Festival – Switzerland, 2024 
• French Film Festival UK – Great Britain, 2024

2024 Winner TFCA Award 

• Outstanding Performance in a Canadian Film 

• Félix-Antoine Duval 

2024 Winner Best Canadian Feature Film TIFF 

• Sophie Deraspe