Screening of Holy Cow (Vingt Dieux)

Directed by Louise Courvoisier, 2024, 92 min.

Following the sudden death of his father, a hard-partying dairy farmer, 18-year-old Totone (Clément Faveau) is reluctantly thrust into adulthood in Louise Courvoisier’s warm and gently comic debut feature. Premiering in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, the film charts Totone’s unconventional path to responsibility as he takes a job at a nearby dairy farm, falls for the farmer’s daughter, and hatches a plan to save his family by entering a regional cheese competition—with a 30,000 Euro prize for the best Comté.

Rooted in the landscapes and rhythms of rural Jura, where Courvoisier herself was raised, the film blends a cast of non-professional local actors with an affectionate, lived-in realism. Equal parts coming-of-age fable and pastoral portrait, this charming and flavorful story celebrates both the emotional messiness of growing up and the earthy traditions of French agricultural life—sure to delight cinephiles and cheese lovers alike.

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