Lucia Festival \ Events

Italian premiere in the presence of the author.

Actors: Ferre Vuye, Kato De Vylder, Bram Verrecas
Expert: Prof. dr. Jan Tytgat
Music by: Elias Bonneux
Script, sound editing and mixing: Pauline Augustyn
Excerpts from: Une histoire particulieÌre, un reìcit documentaire from France Culture and Madelein Memories from Arte Radio.
Advice: Lieve De Maeyer and Dieter Van Dam

Le village des fous is a fictionalized documentary about a village affected by an inexplicable plague of madness. It is based on true events that occurred in Pont-Saint-Esprit, France in 1951.

“Our son Charles woke up last night bathed in sweat. He saw crazy shapes on the walls and carpets. To reassure him, his father and I had to remove all the furniture from his room. This morning he asked me what the devil looks like. I am extremely worried about his state of mind. I fear that his holy communion will be compromised.”

A few days later, out of nowhere, the same boy grabs his mother by the throat. In the meantime, the doctor’s waiting room is packed and Pont-Saint-Esprit goes into a sort of sleepless state. When many of the inhabitants start hallucinating, the town descends into complete chaos. Everybody wonders: what is going on here? Who or what on earth could be responsible for this?

After earning a degree in Language and Literature, Pauline Augustyn (1995) pursued her childhood dream: becoming a radio producer. In 2022, she graduated with the radio documentary project Une utopie, un mensonge and her Le village des fous was awarded the NTR Podcast Prize. She is currently working at VRT, the national public-service broadcaster for the Flemish Community of Belgium, and she carries on making podcasts as an independent audio maker. On Instagram – where you can find her as luister.luik – she recommends must-hear podcasts using homemade collages.