During the dawn of the digital age in the late 1990s and early 2000s, The Gleaners and Iemerged as one of the first true masterpieces to evolve from the new and (at the time) relatively unexplored format. Taken from the old pastime of gleaning (collecting leftover crops from fields after they have been harvested), Varda’s documentary focuses on modern-day gleaners, allowing these marginalised people speak for themselves and address everything from world politics to personal tragedies, whilst Varda herself questions her own morality in the process.

Part social critique, part travelogue, this eccentric and eye-opening documentary is an unsentimental celebration of human resilience and how we should look out for those who survive on the margins of society and listen to their stories without judgement.

“Of all the movies I’ve seen in the past several years, this is one of the ones I love the most”
Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune