With 65% good opinions, the mayor is more than ever the French people’s favorite elected official. And this from afar. Mayors are well ahead of deputies (38% good opinions), regional presidents (39%) and department presidents (37%). But mayors are loved but are poorly known. And above all, we are only interested in them in the media in the event of a crisis. This is the observation of a Tarn mayor who decided to make a film about it. “Our Mayors” is released in theaters this week, it was produced by the mayor of Séquestre, the town which borders Albi in Tarn.
Gérard Poujade paints a portrait of twelve mayors across France. Six men and six women, one elected per region of France. It will also be screened on Saturday May 11, in the presence of eight of the twelve mayors who make up this choral portrait.
Above all, no politics
The film was produced in collaboration with The La Poste Group and the AMRF (Association of Rural Mayors of France). And this film, the mayor of Sequester decided to shoot it after seeing for the umpteenth time an interview with an elected official on television after a news item. A few seconds (always the same) of the councilor explaining the tragedy for his commune (a flood, a forest fire or a murder of your choice) and ending with the opening of a psychological help cell. “But our role is much broader” protests Gérard Poujade.
He shows it in his film precisely through moments of life… The elected officials with the keys to all the premises in the municipality; the elected officials who try to recognize each resident, who guide a delivery man who has gotten lost. We see in this feature film the constant solicitation on large or small issues. The idea in these portraits: above all, don’t get involved in politics. But touch the intimate of these mayors. Mayors who also try to understand through these crossed portraits why the French seem to shy away from involvement in public life.
The Mayor of Sequestration is not his first film. He had already realized “Life in common, life in common” a film to try to understand the reasons for the abstention in which he interviewed ten citizens of his commune.
- This film will be screened in theaters on Tuesday May 28 at La Poste headquarters in Paris. The Tarnais will be able to discover it on Saturday May 11 at 3 p.m., meeting room Athanor in Albi, in the presence of eight of the twelve mayors interviewed. Free admission. It will then be broadcast in theaters throughout France.
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