This impressionistic documentary is set in the remote desert community of Illaut, Northern Kenya. The Samburus are nomadic pastoralists who live by the rhythm of the sun and the moon. The film asks the question, what will remain of their customs once electricity makes its appearance? Will artificial light, water pumps, refrigerators and a mobile network pose challenges to the preservation of their culture? What consequences will the temptations of modern times impose? After a decade of living under pylons that provided electricity to cities, the government is now making efforts to connect their community as well. This results in structural changes for the way they organize their lives. For example, in order to have a safe electrical connection, the impermanent huts must make way for permanent houses with fencing, which in turn makes public land private property. Although electricity offers new possibilities, it also has a socio-economic impact: a new dependence with consequences for their formerly self-sufficient way of life. The transition that the Samburu is currently going through is at the tail end of broader global transformation; since 2007 more than half of humanity has been living in cities. The nomadic Samburu settle in villages while a share move to the nearby city. While we as viewers experience the excitement of the Samburu for the changes, we also feel melancholy at the disappearance of a traditional way of life.

At the intersection of art and science, L’année du robot (Year of the robot) depicts the human being and the robot as its artificial counterpart. As a series of archival documents detailing the first contacts and dialogue between a robot gifted with an artificially created autonomy and human beings, it studies cognitive dissonance, a minute, mysterious relational space sitting between the two actors. It involves elderly people sometimes afflicted with Alzheimer's or dementia, or young adults with autism or neurological problems. Once past the surprise phase and aware of the artificial nature of the robot's functioning, the residents try, despite everything, to forge bonds with it.

The film connects the life of a hermit shepherd and the ritual of Zenerù, with which Alpine communities chase winter away, evoking the indissoluble link between the agro-pastoral world and cyclical time.