Gleaning is an ancient practice of scanning already harvested fields for any abandoned crops, scavenging basically. This French documentary from Agnes Varda uses this starting point to take a highly lyrical look at the modern world and people who scavenge a living - in the cities and Paris especially.

Varda has not just a great eye for detail but one for people too, talking to people who glean not just to survive but to those who glean to use the scavenged material in their artistic endeavours, a key scene involves a conversation with an artist who uses the councils dates for people to get rid of their rubbish as his own personal Trash and Treasure Map.

Filmed in 1999 completely on Digital Video, allowing for a real direct and honest feel to the production. The Gleaners and I never fails to maintain the interest, Varda herself is probably the ultimate Gleaner, taking up the shards of peoples life experience and turning it outward to become something new, indeed the original French title basically translates as The Gleaners and The Gleaner, Varda putting herself into the frame. A real bonus is the extra on this disc, a thoroughly excellent 60 minute follow up from 2001 called The Gleaners and I:Two Years Later which makes the whole experience of watching the Gleaners and I doubly interesting.