Irregular migration and stymied deportation orders have lengthy loomed over French politics, points that had been exploited in latest elections by a far proper desirous to stoke fears.
Now an award-winning movie is amplifying the voices of those that have lengthy been shut out of the dialog: undocumented migrants themselves.
“It’s been fairly enjoyable,” mentioned Abou Sangaré, who performs the lead function in L’Histoire de Souleymane, or Souleymane’s Story. “We’ve had tons of requests for interviews, from radio to tv.”
The movie, which casts Sangaré as a younger asylum seeker, unfolds at a frenetic tempo as he races to cobble collectively an revenue as a supply rider and put together for a make-or-break interview to safe residency papers.
For Sangaré – who received greatest actor within the Cannes movie competition’s Un Sure Regard competitors for his efficiency – the movie is a mix of fiction and his personal actuality; since arriving in France on the age of 16 from Guinea, he has lacked everlasting authorized standing, leaving him, like hundreds of others in France, preventing deportation.
Sangaré’s life modified after he met the film-maker Boris Lojkine. After a number of auditions, the 23-year-old was solid as Souleymane, catapulting him from a life within the shadows to having his face splashed throughout film posters at subway stations and bus stops throughout France.
It additionally propelled him into the center of the nation’s heated debate on migration. Final week the movie was screened at France’s nationwide meeting, incomes plaudits even after far-right politicians moaned about Sangaré being solid within the movie and France’s inside minister, Bruno Retailleau, vowed to crack down on irregular migration and do extra to expel these with out everlasting authorized standing.
Leftwing politicians had been swift to trumpet the movie’s humanisation of a problem that has lengthy hovered over French politics in an summary approach. “See this movie and get others to see it so that each one the Souleymanes, all of the undocumented staff, all of the Uberised supply riders are lastly recognised: regularised and salaried,” Danielle Simonnet of the New Standard Entrance wrote on social media after the screening. “Our humanity will depend on it.”
Others pointed to Sangaré’s private story to push again in opposition to the far-right’s efforts to hyperlink these going through deportation with crime, noting that lower than 2% of the orders issued between 2019 and 2022 had been linked to felony convictions.
When he was solid within the movie, Sangaré had an inkling that the function – and its connection to his personal life – would have repercussions past the world of movie. “From the minute I made a decision to talk up about this side of my life in public, I used to be actually burdened and nervous,” he mentioned. “It was difficult.”
He channelled the sentiments into the movie, aiming to depict the stress and anxiousness which have lengthy permeated all facets of his life as he sought residency by a system that felt past his management. “It’s not one thing that you may receive by laborious work. They’ve to simply accept you so that you can get your papers,” he mentioned. “That’s the issue.”
The movie reveals Souleymane working day and night time, hinting at a paradox taking part in out throughout France and far of Europe: at the same time as many governments search to curtail migration and push out these with out papers, their labour has turn out to be a way of filling essential gaps in sectors resembling agriculture and building.
“You wouldn’t see a French individual waking up early to gather garbage,” mentioned Sangaré. “Somebody must do these jobs. And the people who find themselves prepared aren’t asking for something greater than papers in order that they’ll work.”
After arriving in France as a minor in 2017, Sangaré utilized 3 times for residency. As he wrestled with rejection after rejection – finally ending up with a deportation order – he studied at highschool and skilled as a automobile mechanic.
However regardless of being supplied full-time employment at a storage, he has been unable to simply accept as a result of his lack of papers. “One of many targets of the movie is to ask: what will we do with those who have spent years on French territory and haven’t been granted asylum?” Sangaré mentioned. “These are individuals with out papers however who work day by day and contribute to the nice of the nation.”
Because the movie’s premiere, Sangaré has been flooded with calls from individuals within the trade fascinated about working with him. The nod from Cannes and important acclaim, nevertheless, might have helped to safe an excellent larger prize: residency. He just lately utilized for the fourth time, this time on the invitation of the French authorities.
Securing standing could be life-changing, mentioned Sangaré. “While you’re with out papers you’re all the time scared, all the time burdened. It’s unattainable to stroll freely within the streets or chase your goals.”
He has little doubt about the very first thing he’ll do if his utility is profitable: “I like cinema as a result of it has allowed me to be seen. However for me, my dream, after I get my papers the very first thing I’ll do is go to the storage that has spent three years attempting to rent me as a mechanic. That’s who I wish to work for.”
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