Du soleil et du plomb (The Price of the Sun)

The film opens with shots of ochre rock landscapes, revealing a vision of a space that has been little – if at all – changed by human hands. A nomadic Berber group living in this particularly arid part of the Moroccan Atlas arrives in the landscape – discreetly and without imposing itself – pursuing a centuries-old pastoral way of life. Gradually, new characters enter the frame. They wear yellow safety vests and construction helmets. Then come the excavators and the trucks. The ballet grows ever more dense. Through the grandiose adverts and quasi-science-fiction images on television, we slowly come to grasp what is happening here. They’re here to build the world’s largest solar power plant, with the aim of turning arid land into a so-called green energy source. The landscape fractures, barriers go up and access to water becomes difficult. Members of the Berber group are given no choice but to work for the power plant. Jérôme le Maire depicts the ambiguities and hidden costs of progress, revealing the resilience and adaptability of a community forced to reinvent itself in the shadow of the renewable energy revolution.

Mourad-Anis Moussa

Du soleil et du plomb, 2026
Burning Out, 2016
Le Grand'tour, 2013
Le Thé ou l'électricité, 2012
Où est l'amour dans la Palmeraie?, 2007
Volter ne m’intéresse pas, 2003
Un jour une vie, 2002
Le Belge été, 2001
Salutations distinguées, 1995
Meilleurs vœux, 1994