Screening of "Limbo"

Screening as part of the 17th edition of the Toulouse and Midi-Pyrénées Cinema & Human Rights Festival, from 6 to 21 January 2024

The screening of the film Limbo will be followed by a debate with Bernard Machenaud, president of the association "Solidarité migrants Patte d'oie" and Alain Cwilinski, head of the Pôle Aide administrative et juridique.

Limbo

Directed by Ben Sharrock with Amir El-Masry, Vikash Bhai, Sidse Babett Knudsen, Kenneth Collard, Lewis Gribben, Grace Chilton and Cameron Fulton, 2020, running time: 104 minutes.

A group of refugees find themselves on a remote Scottish island.

There are ten of them, from sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Among them is Omar, a Syrian musician who never takes his oud out of his hands. Like the others, he is waiting for a decision on his asylum application. With his hand in plaster, he can't play. He wanders idly around the island with his companions, some of whom have no illusions about what exile will bring themThe winds blow across the island, the moor is covered in snow.

The film is charming and poetic. It depicts the daily life of Omar and his comrades in a burlesque way, like a fable. They come face to face with the islanders, most of whom are fishermen. Who have their own prejudices and sometimes express surreal support. Omar, a character in his own right, makes long phone calls to his parents stranded in Turkey. Like some kind of lunar being, he oscillates between cowardice and courage, hope and disillusionment. He is consumed by the guilt of having abandoned his loved ones. We only discover his talent as a soloist at the very end.

The film is not just about migrants. It reads like a fable about uprooting, about the situation of the foreigner who is constantly out of step. It is a far cry from the miserabilist fictions we often see. The work is first and foremost concerned with narrative, setting and staging. It presents a story and a miniature slice of life. It navigates between cold humour and the grey mood of the small group of migrants.

Details:

The Toulouse and Midi-Pyrénées Festival of Cinema and Human Rights (or FCDH) is run by a group made up of local representatives of 7 international solidarity associations in the Midi-Pyrénées region: Amnesty International, CCFD Terre-Solidaire, ACAT, L'école des droits humains et de la Terre, Les Amis du Monde diplomatique de Toulouse, Médecins du Monde and Médecins sans Frontières.

The aim of the festival is to raise public awareness of the defence and promotion of human rights.

This year, the films presented deal with subjects as diverse as the end of life, torture in Syria, cybersurveillance, water management, gender issues, the rights of the people of Palestine, the island of Mayotte, migrants and many more...

The Festival will screen 18 films between 6 and 21 January 2024, spread over some forty screenings, in twenty-six cinemas in some twenty towns in the Occitanie-Ouest region.

Each screening is followed by a lively debate thanks to invited expert specialists.

Programme:
https://www.festival-cinema-droitsdelhomme.fr/