Aulan

In recent years, the world has been shaken by crises—pandemics, climate disasters, dramatic political changes, war. We have all, at least once, questioned how we would protect ourselves and our loved ones if everything collapsed. The idea of survival is no longer a distant fantasy; it is a reality that lingers in the back of our minds. Some prepare in silence. Others build entire ideologies around it.This story is not just about survival but about what survival does to us. It explores the thin line between protection and control, between resilience and radicalization.In the heart of the Drôme in France, a land once marked by the French Resistance, a new form of resistance is rising. Robert, a former soldier and the son of a World War II resistance fighter, sees himself as the heir to the maquis—a modern-day fighter preparing for the next great collapse.The character of Robert was inspired by my father, a military man himself, the son of a French army colonel whose family had joined the Resistance during the war. I always sensed in him a fear that bordered on paranoia, a deeply ingrained instinct for defense that he wanted to pass down to us. As a child, I found it all absurd and even dangerous. But today, in a world we hardly recognize—and as a mother myself—I wonder if he wasn’t entirely wrong.The survivalist community at Château d’Aulan does not see itself as extremist but as a continuation of history—a movement of patriots, ready to fight against an imminent catastrophe. But what happens when the ideals of the past are distorted to justify the radicalization of the present? And when a grandfather kidnaps his grandchildren to raise them under his beliefs? Robert wants to strengthen his family, even at the risk of destroying it.Ultimately, Sandra’s journey explores a fundamental fear that transcends generations: the fear of losing those we love and the lengths we are willing to go to protect or save them.This series taps into something deeply human: the need to belong, the power of indoctrination, and the eternal battle between free will and control. Set against the mysterious, almost mythical backdrop of Château d’Aulan and its wild surroundings, the survivalists’ enclave is not just a refuge—it is a battlefield of beliefs because in the end, survival is not just about enduring. It’s about deciding what is worth fighting for.