Famous rapper Mercury Maxwell (played by the excellent Fred Gibbs, the master of this genre making his debut on the big screen) decides to take a break from the music industry. He leaves New York and moves to his Massachusetts hometown to get ideas for his next album in isolation and to live "normally" - away from the tiring glitz and superficiality of show business. This pause brings a breather and change. The musician feels better and better in this completely different life, in which he discovers new pleasures and fulfillments. He discovers the joys of working on the farm - feeding animals, chopping wood and helping a farmer living next door. Here, the main character, aside from Maxwell, is the American province - calm, demanding and devoid of spectacular events. As in his previous film (Bob and the Trees), the director portrays the land with warmth and tenderness. Following the path of Kelly Reichardt, he immerses viewers in realism to create a humanistic cinema full of empathy and ordinary human stories.
Audience award nominated film. Please pick up a voting card on entering the screening and tear in a place marking your opinion and throw it into an assigned box after the screening (cards and boxes will be available at the theaters). The filmmakers have a chance of winning $10,000.
Deauville FF 2021 - Grand Prix
Diego Ongaro is a French director living for many years in western Massachusetts. In his youth, while still living in France, he directed children's programs for television. His full-length debut was the drama Bob and the Trees (2015), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, traveled to over 20 festivals around the world and won the Crystal Globe and the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Karlovy Vary IFF. In 2016, Ongaro received the Someone to Watch Award nomination, as part of the Independent Spirit Awards.
2005 Me, My Bag, and My Ball (short)
2007 Retour à Labradoria (short)
2008 Rice and Meat (short)
2010 Bob and the Trees (short)
2015 Bob i jego drzewa / Bob and the Trees
2021 Król nie żyje / Down with the King