• Director(s):

    EBERMANN (TIMOTHEE)

  • Producer(s):

    Bo Travail !, ARTE FRANCE

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2018

  • Language(s):

    German, French

  • Rights:

    TV, DVD, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET, VOD

The Scilly archipelago can be found in the Celtic sea, off the coast of England… The windy island of Tresco saw Augustus John Smith arrive at the beginning of the nineteenth century. The 26 years old rich aristocrat decided to sow a subtropical garden, the “Tresco Abbey Garden”.

Augustus John Smith studied the miserable living conditions of the English population. Ideologically close to the utopian ideas of his time, he sought to change the neediest’s ways of living. The Scilly Islands were extremely poor, thus the young philanthropist found a great opportunity to achieve is life goals. Here, he proved that we can fight famine with a food-producing garden. The garden unfolds along the hillside and offers its vegetation various habitats – from the driest to the moistest. In the 1980s a cold snap killed 90% of the garden’s plant life. And while the garden was under reconstruction a tornado with winds faster than 200km/h struck the island and destroyed everything in its wake. Just like Augustus John Smith, the gardeners have learned to rebuild it. Tresco showcases its exceptional resilience capacity time and time again…