The feature film, directed by Cameroonian author-screenwriter Guy Roméo, deals with the journey of five young migrants upon their arrival in Marseille. A partly autobiographical story, which will be screened on Saturday July 16 at the Artplexe cinema, on the Canebière.
Five characters and five life paths, all related to immigration. The film recounts the arrival in Marseille of Lion, Chris, Bizon, Eva and Camilla, young people in a migration situation, “candidates for social, economic and administrative integration“. Each from a different country, they met on the roads of exile, between Morocco and Spain. Once in Marseille, after a long journey, they separate and meet you three months later to take stock of their situation: whod of their integration? of their difficulties? what did they build there?
The film, embodied by young Marseille workers, aged 18 to 30 (Aboudou Kamal, Bangoura Issa, Narkao Paul Désiré, Rym Foglia and Silver Sokolowsky), stages “five different visions of the world, where these young people will have to cross the limits of the possible and give themselves as they can“, explains the director and screenwriter, Guy Roméo Amougou, who imagined this feature film with the five actors in the making and the memberss of its association “In the skin of BTIR”. Installed at the Cité des associations de Marseille since 2016it works to promote cultural practice among young people aged 18 to 25, through introductory workshops in music, audiovisual and cinema.
Upon their arrival, “each of the protagonists will have a different life course. One will fall into prostitution; the other in drugs. Someone who wanted to play football will find themselves hanging out with ‘thugs’. Only one of the characters persists on the right path“, describes Guy Romeo.
These paths, the director knows them well for having crossed them, during his own exile. Born in Nyamanga, Cameroon, Guy Roméo left his country at the age of 18 to take the road to Europe, driven by precariousness, attracted by his ambitions and a certain vision of France. Rapping, imitating his idols, IAM, Kerry James or Mac Tyer. He also says he is influenced by his taste for cinema, he who remembers “have watched a lot of foreign channels, Trace, for clips, and Canal +“, among others.
Passed through Nigeria, Niger, Algeria, Morocco – with detours through Senegal, Ivory Coast and Tunisia – before reaching Spain, after a trip of three and a half years, Guy Roméo experienced precariousness, lived off odd jobs, his tattoos, negotiated with smugglers… Kidnapped in Nigeria, he faced violence all along his journey: attack, death of some of his close companions, abandoned by a smuggler in the middle of the desert. A friend of his will also die at the border”the most fearsome in the world“, between Spain and Morocco. An exile he recounts in his first novel, “In the skin of the immigrant”.
Once in France, the one who calls himself “General doctor H-Chelem, commander of the BTIR” (for “battalion of independent and resolute troops”) – a pseudonym that borrows from his meetings, as from his affinity for the army – lands in Paris. Disappointed with a city”different from what he expected“, he joins Marseille “for its boiling side” and “because he loves OM“.
“Today is January 1, 2015. I don’t know anyone. I don’t have money but my head is full of dreams“. In Marseille, Guy Roméo is housed in a home. He knows the first difficulties of integration and is also overtaken by his memories. “Nightmares, visions“, which he tries to evacuate with his novel, and through music. In 2016, he founded his association and organizes “Open mic” evenings (with open microphone), to accompany young people from Marseille Center and the northern districts and help them get started in music or audiovisual. “Without papers, it was my only way to work, to have an activity“, he insists.
A few years later, the “Integration” film project was born, with the young people it trains. Two years of filming followed, with a 100% volunteer team: 50 actors, 8 technicians. And a first screening in front of the general public scheduled for Saturday July 16, at the Artplexe cinema, on the Canebière, in the presence of associations and consuls of Cameroon and Senegal.
The ambition of the film: to change the way people look at migration. “The idea is to put your finger on the issue of integration. We must put it back at the heart of our lives. When we arrive here, in Europe, we are lost. I would like people to look at us differently and understand that we don’t leave our country to invade France, but simply because we are hungry. And also, to share things“, develops Guy Romeo.
Another target: the Cameroonian population. “Our elders, who left to live in France, sometimes convey a biased image“, explains the one who wants to show some “the reality of the country and integration“through this feature film.”Everyone makes their choices. But today, I would not advise an African brother to do like me“; the same course, with its dangers.
The screening, from 3 p.m. at the Artplexe cinema (€15 entry), will be followed by a debate. Others could follow in Marseille in the coming months and the director is already anticipating a second part.