Click here to watch the first 5 minutes of the film (with English sub-titles).

“The War of the Buttons” by Louis Pergaud is a literary milestone for practically everyone in France and for many in Europe and even beyond. Some have read the novel in their childhood and many more saw one of the cinema films. Spectators identified with the protagonists Lebrac (leader of the gang of Longevernes and hero of the novel), La Crique or Gibus, because it felt like a hymn to freedom, an ode to childhood...

Landresse in the Doubs region in France: 231 inhabitants according to the latest count in 2012.
This peaceful village was immortalized by Louis Pergaud - under the name of “Longeverne” – in his first and most famous novel "La Guerre des boutons" (The War of the Buttons). Pergaud had been a teacher in Landress for two years and his novel became a true national monument after his death.
Let’s imagine the author, Louis Pergaud, came back to the village a century later. He would probably find that the children of Landresse, aged 7 to 14, could well be the modern-day versions of the heroes of his novel: Lebrac, Tigibus, La Crique or Camus.
The film offers snapshots of childhood that also gently debunk some received ideas about the rural world and village life of the past century.

* * * * The Press:

"This first person account from the past follows less the traces left by the passing time than the semblance of eternity that envelops childhood in the countryside. In the course of (too brief) encounters, the film paints an engaging impressionist portrait, full of gentleness ... and charmingly idealized.”— Isabelle Poitte - Télérama

"The director had the good idea to film the daily life of the children of today…comparing it to that of the young heroes of the original story and film" - Elodie Bardinet - Première

AVAILABLE FOR SCREENING: original French version only.