How Long Is “The Gleaners and I”?

Renowned filmmaker Agnes Varda directs this documentary about the French tradition of gleaning, or foraging through junk -- everything from old potatoes to abandoned refrigerators. The film notes that the practice goes back many centuries to when peasants used to scavenge for leftover wheat after harvest. In their modern day equivalents, Varda encounters a famous chef and a wine-grower, both of whom are amateur gleaners. She also happens upon one character, sporting massive yellow boots, who has subsisted on nothing but garbage for ten years -- and has never gotten sick. This film was screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival.