La Rivière inoubliée
Sylvie Le Breton
1997 - 28 min - Betacam SP - Couleur - France

On September 22, 1992, unrelenting heavy rains poured down on Vaison la Romaine, a village in Provence divided by the Ouvèze river, ordinarily a small stream. Within two hours the water level was raised by 17 meters (56 feet), transforming the Ouvèze into a raging flood destroying everything in its path. At the end of the day, the river was almost back down to its normal level, but meanwhile, had killed more than 50 persons, destroyed dozens of homes and an entire camp site.
Years later, the population is still feeling the shock, not only of the disaster but also of its aftermath and the media invasion that followed. Some inhabitants and members of the rescue teams testify to this, their testimony reinforced by the shocking images of the homevideos taken by locals during the flooding.
This film is a deeply moving documentary on the human dimension of a natural disaster and its lasting effect long after the event itself has been forgotten by the media.