Description
The Espace Aguascalientes will host a screening of a film paying tribute to Marie Hélène Chiocca, a resident of Ruffieu, playwright and author, who passed away in 2025; the film was directed by her partner, the actor and director Henri Gruvman.
Marie Hélène was keen to shed light on the rural life she had embraced by buying the former dairy in Ruffieu after it closed in 1991.
Alongside her work as a teacher and trainer, it was this desire to reflect local social realities that served as the guiding thread through her varied writing endeavours. From short stories to autofiction, it was ultimately through novels and plays that Marie Hélène shared her enthusiasm and optimism.
The dreams of young female workers at the Jujurieux silk mills form the backdrop to her first work, *Les Soyeuses*. *Le Mariage* depicts young North African women torn between respect for tradition and a desire for emancipation. Her first novel, *Vache à l’âme*, is loosely inspired by the hardships faced by a small mountain village and how imagination and mutual support can lead to solutions. And most recently, *Il est interdit de vieillir*, a work depicting the struggle between the inevitable and the thirst for life.
