The 8,000 inhabitants of Carhaix fight for the survival of their community. Each year, its Breton town is transformed into the world capital of the Rock at the Vieilles Charrues festival. Together, they have succeeded in warding off the imminent closure of their hospital. Their history is a positive counter-example to French doom-scenarios.
A small place in France, which has always been outdated in the great development plans, has taken up the resistance - determined to master its own destiny.
In the middle of the West Brittany, in a poverty-stricken area around a neglected traffic axis, lies the amazing small town of Carhaix, whose inhabitants fight for the survival of their community. For 25 years, they have transformed their town once a year at the Festival of the Vieilles Charrues to the world capital of Rock.
Carhaix also has the rank of a capital in the Breton revolts: mayor Christian Troadec is active in the protest movement of the "bonnets rouges" ("red caps"), and the 8,000 inhabitants were able to avert the threatening closure of their hospital by means of a monthly, stubborn mobilization.
Jean-Pierre and Loïc, who are part of all the fights for their city, are pioneers of organic agriculture in the region. For 20 years, they have been cultivating their fields without pesticides and are successfully coping with the crisis.
The global developments at Carhaix do not pass. In the industrial area of the city, a Chinese company built the largest milk powder plant in Europe for baby food.
Despite still high unemployment rates, Carhaix has been spared from extreme right-wing election campaigns. Through their culture of coexistence, which places the common good in front of individual interests, the "Carhaisiens" revive local democracy and set a positive example.
Host city of the Vieilles Charrues festival, Carhaix-Plouguer cultivates a particular kind of local democracy in order to survive. In this documentary, Frédéric Brunnquell meets the locals to discover how they have stood fast in the face adversity even as public authorities abandoned them.
Ville hôtesse du festival des Vieilles Charrues, Carhaix-Plouguer cultive la démocratie locale pour continuer à vivre. Dans cette chronique documentaire, Frédéric Brunnquell part à la rencontre des Carhaisiens pour comprendre comment cette commune délaissée par les pouvoirs publics résiste au quotidien.
À Carhaix-Plouguer, petite ville surprenante du Finistère, les quelque huit mille habitants se battent pour la survie de leur territoire. Chaque été, depuis vingt-cinq ans, la commune devient la capitale de la planète rock avec l'arrivée du festival des Vieilles Charrues. Le maire, Christian Troadec, a été à la pointe du mouvement contestataire des Bonnets rouges, en octobre 2013. Dans cette chronique documentaire, Frédéric Brunnquell (Classes moyennes, des vies sur le fil) part à la rencontre des Carhaisiens pour comprendre comment cette commune délaissée par les pouvoirs publics résiste au quotidien. Son voyage va d'une exploitation bio à la toute récente usine chinoise de poudre de lait infantile, la plus grande d'Europe, en passant par l'hôpital, menacé de fermeture par l’administration et sauvé par la mobilisation de la population. Il montre aussi qu'à Carhaix, où, malgré un taux de chômage élevé, le Front national ne fait pas recette, s'invente une démocratie locale qui, en privilégiant l’intérêt général, a su revitaliser le lien social.
