Synopsis

This is a European road movie that travels from the defunct Berlin Wall to the brandnew barrier at Ceuta, on the African continent. From north to south, Patric Jean goes in quest of men and women who have migrated from all over the world, giving us cheerful, affectionate glimpses of their lives as they find places in the new society, participating in it with energy and generosity. The director starts at the Berlin wall, where a Pakistani souvenir seller is saving to bring his family to Germany. In Belgium, an aged retired miner recalls his decision to leave Sardinia to find work and a better life. In Marseilles, Senegalese immigrants are amused to learn that a walled community for prosperous families is planned next to their homes in “the worst slums in Europe.” The people interviewed n this documentary have braved hardship in their attempts to improve their lives; some have risked death and most have left loved ones behind to face an unhappy and uncertain future. As the film zigzags through the borderlands, it focuses on a single theme: the new multi-cultural Europe, rejoicing in the diversity contributed by the foreigners, despite its tradition of rejecting them. The film presents an optimistic, celebratory, sometimes sardonic look at Europe and its immigration. In these true glimpses into people’s lives the plight of the immigrant is given a human face.

Director

• 

  Patric Jean
  

  Patric Jean was born in Belgium in 1968. He studied theater, literature and cinema at the Brussels University, conservatoir and cinema school (INSAS). He lives in Paris and Belgium. He first directed some short fictions and started making documentaries with Kids from the Coal - A Letter to Henri Storck. In 2003, He directed Might is Right, which has been broadcasted in 15 countries and screened in 40 cinemas in France.
  
  La domination masculine (2009)
  D’un mur l’autre (Wall to Wall, 2008)
  La raison du plus fort (2003)
  Les enfants du borinage - Lettre à Henri Storck (2000)
  La conquête du Pôle Sud (1997)

Credits

• Director  Patric Jean
• Producer  Patric Jean
• Writer  Patric Jean
• Cinematographer  Patric Jean
• Editor  Françoise Arnaud
• Music  Tom McLung
• Sound  Jean-Jacques Quinet

Production Company

• Production Company  INA (Institut National de l’Audiovisuel), Black Moon Production (Patric Jean)

Distributor/World Sales

• Distributor/World Sales  Wallonie Image Production (WIP)
• Address  Quai des Ardennes 16-17 B-4020 Liège, Belgium
• Tel  32 4 340 10 43
• Fax  32 4 340 10 41
• Email  cecile.hiernaux@wip.be