The Strongest Man

A documentary showing the proceedings around a French castle, turned luxury hotel, over a year.

1899. On a stormy night, Aimée, a young Republican schoolteacher, arrives in a snowy hamlet on the edge of the Alps. Despite the mistrust of the inhabitants, she is determined to shed light on their dark beliefs. As she blends into the life of the community, a sensual vertigo grows within her.

In 1952, Anita Conti, France's first female oceanographer, embarked on a trawler to share the hard life of Atlantic cod fishermen, alone with her camera and sixty men for six months. Using her 16mm film rushes and photographs, the film reveals her scientific and yet tender gaze for the workers of the sea. This pioneering woman foresaw the need to protect the oceans.This film explores the modernity of her struggle, as well as the hazy, rhythmic beauty of her writing and photography.