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ALLOUACHE BACK IN VENICE WITH FILM ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS
08/09/2009
Award-winning, veteran filmmaker Merzak Allouache returns to the Lido, in the Venice Days sidebar, with French/Algerian co-production Harragas. The film is a realistic portrayal of brûleurs – literally, those Algerians who burn their documents and immigrate illegally (usually, by sea) to Europe, in search of a better life.
Here, the story focuses on a group of young Algerian men and women as they prepare and then set out on the dangerous journey to Spain. Their voyage is made even more difficult by a mysterious man who forces his way onto their boat at gunpoint. The director said the inspiration for his film came from the daily barrage of news stories about the endless number of North Africans who die trying to escape their country.
But Allouache said at the film’s Q&A that during shooting he decided Harragas should have a double message. “We directors from the so-called developing world can’t just limit ourselves to telling love stories,” he claims. “In my case, I didn’t want to show young people who want to leave poverty and misery, but also a society closed to its own people. In the sense that part of the world’s citizens can move freely, the other part cannot.”
He explained how along with debut actor Seddik Benyagoub, three more of the film’s cast members were meant to accompany the film to Venice. However, unlike Benyagoub, the others were denied a visa, for no apparent motive.
Allouache was initially worried he would not be granted public funds, given the film’s subject matter, but that was surprisingly not the case. Even Canal + and France 2 Cinema eagerly boarded the project, despite the fact that story has nothing to do with France. The director went on to thank producer Véronique Rofé, without whose support and determination, he says, the film would never have been made.
The film’s real hardships came during production. Said Benyagoub: “It was a complex shoot because so much of the time we were on a boat, completely surrounded by water. It was cold, some people were even seasick.”
Both Allouache and Benyagoub hope that the film will dissuade young Algerians from leaving the country under such suicidal conditions. “Hopefully, they will start looking for other solutions, and improving the current social and political situation,” concluded Allouache.
Harragas was produced by Baya Films of Algeria with Paris-based Libris Films for €1.9m. It is being handled internationally by Doc & Film International, which is already in negotiations with several territories. The film does not yet have a French or Algerian distributor.
In the Photogallery (left), pictures from the presentation in Venice
Report by Natasha Senjanovic for
www.cineuropa.org
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