25/05/2010

Acclaimed by the Directors’ Fortnight audience, who were moved by its raw intensity, Olivier Masset-Depasse’s second feature Illegal [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Olivier Masset-Depasse
film profile] didn’t leave Cannes empty-handed, for it won the SACD Prize.

The film looks at a subject with a bitter taste of urgency in many European countries, the detention conditions of illegal immigrants in closed centres, so-called “neutral” zones. Here, “illegal” immigrants in transit are imprisoned before some are sent back to their country, and others are released to fend for themselves.

Masset-Depasse focuses on the particular experiences of Tania, a Russian single mother who has been settled in Belgium for the past eight years. She has a job and an apartment, but doesn’t have the documents necessary to obtain legal status. These particular experiences nonetheless echo those of her fellow detainees, and even those of real-life individuals in news reports that sporadically and anonymously make the front pages of European newspapers.

By choosing the narrative rather than documentary format, Masset-Depasse underscores the universality of the situation: the story of a mother who could be the viewer’s neighbour or work colleague.

Having received mainly glowing reviews, unanimous in their praise for Anne Coesens’s powerful performance in the lead role, the film looks set to enjoy a successful run at festivals, as well as in theatres. Its international seller Films Distribution has announced numerous sales following the Directors’ Fortnight screening. The film has apparently already been bought for Colombia, Greece, Switzerland, Germany and Italy, and negotiations are well underway with buyers in the UK, Australia and USA.

Produced by Versus Production, in co-production with France’s Dharamsala, Luxembourg’s Iris and Belgium’s Prime Time, Illegal will be released at the start of October in France (Haut et court) and probably in Belgium (O’Brother).

(Translated from French)