Saving one more Euro fare from drowning into obscurity, Film Movement have announced the pick-up of Philippe Lioret's Welcome - a trilingual drama in French, English and Arabic that paints a portrait of two men wrestling with their own issues of lost love and alienation, while exploring larger contemporary dilemmas like illegal immigration and covert border crossings. Film Movement is planning a Spring-ish release.
Welcome was recently selected as one of the nominees for the prestigious Louis Delluc Prize (A Prophet won) and since it preemed in Berlin, has been compared to some of Ken Loach's earlier work. With immigration issue such a hot topic in France, I imagine the drama lead to some discussion worthy debates in some of the media.
Welcome is an emotionally affecting drama about intersecting lives, unlikely friendships, and the hope of new beginnings. Bilal (Firat Ayverdi), a 17-year-old Kurdish refugee, has spent the last three months of his life traveling across Europe, in an attempt to reunite with his girlfriend who recently emigrated to England. But his journey comes to an abrupt end when he is stopped on the French side of the Channel. Having decided to swim across, Bilal goes to the local swimming pool to train. It is here he meets Simon (Vincent Lindon), a middle-aged swimming instructor, who is privately reeling in turmoil as he dreads an imminent divorce from his wife (Audrey Dana). Despite their differences, the two men discover that they have much in common, and a strong bond emerges between them. Simon decides to take Bilal under his wing, realizing that he too must risk everything to reach the other side of happiness.
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