ABOUT THE MOVIE
Documentary – 2019 – 82′ / 52′
The unique story of two Congolese friends, Jean-Pierre and Isaiah. In 1996, they fled the massacres that ravaged their country, leaving everything behind. They spent 20 years in a refugee camp, deprived of everything, cut off from their roots and denied a future. But one day their fate changes: the UN offers them relocation to the US. A new beginning, a one-way ticket to a new life. Jean-Pierre and Isaiah start dreaming of a better life, but they could not imagine what awaits them in the West. Within a few hours they shift from one world to another, from the destitution of their African camp to the lights of Time Square, and the shock is somewhat brutal…
Jean-Pierre dreams to send his six children to school and to find a doctor for his 84-year-old mother. Isaiah has only one thing in mind: to find his fiancée who left the camp three years earlier to be “relocated” to Salt Lake City.
Director
Director and photographer, Grégoire Gosset has been collaborating with the major French television channels and press agencies for the past 20 years. Accustomed to long-format prime-time programs, he has covered a wide variety of subjects all over the world, including conflict zones and the most remote regions. As an Africa expert, he gradually shifted from investigative reports to documentaries and primarily directs films dealing with humanitarian and humanist causes. In partnership with major NGOs, he has recently addressed the questions of health, severe disability, education, migration flows, illegal immigration, slavery, and social exclusion in many countries. He focuses on universal themes, seeks strong characters, and concentrates on picture quality.
DETAILS
- FIRST BROADCAST – 2019 – France 2
- DIRECTOR and SCRIPT – Grégoire Gosset
- PRODUCTION – Echo Studio, Madness films, Kanguroo
- INTERNATIONAL SALES – Echo Studio, Terranoa
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ACT
Contrary to popular belief, Africa is the continent that shelters the largest refugee population in the world. Whether for climatic, political, or economic reasons, Africans fleeing their homeland most often find refuge in a neighboring country. Despite the transitional nature of these camps, some refugees end up spending their whole life there: today, Uganda alone, Africa’s largest refugee-hosting country, is home to some 1.15 million refugees. In Kenya, the Dadaab refugee complex (now threatened with closure) is one of the world’s most populated camps with 235,000 refugees.
Given the situation, international organizations such as the UN via IOM, have set up various relocation programs. Relocated people, mainly from Syria (41% of relocation process in 2019), the Democratic Republic of Congo (9%) and South Sudan (9%), were able to move to Canada, the USA, Sweden, or Germany.