SPRINT Gala – Richelieu

Screening with filmmaker Pier-Philippe Chevigny and actress Ariane Castellanos in attendance

Facing bankruptcy after a difficult breakup, Ariane moves back home to the Richelieu Valley and gets a job in a food transformation plant for seasonal migrant workers. Focused on solving her financial issues, Ariane serves as an interpreter between Stephane, the factory’s aggressive supervisor, and the 42 seasonal Guatemalan workers hired as cheap labor. She obeys Stephane’s often excessive orders, pressuring the underpaid Latino workers to constantly work overtime and turning down any request for better conditions. Little by little, she befriends a group of four Guatemalans assigned to the most physically demanding unit of the entire factory. Shoveling shredded corn in the harsh sun all day long, Manuel, Alfonso, Guillermo, and Juan have no one else but her to voice their concerns. Realizing the extent of her new friends’ vulnerability, Ariane begins to take a stand against Stephane. Tension slowly builds up between the two as Ariane defies his decision to fire workers or to illegally install surveillance cameras in the dormitories. When Manuel slowly falls ill to a mysterious condition, the stakes quickly develop into a crisis situation.

*Tribeca Film Festival 2023
*Fantasia 2023