a documentary follows 5 migrants

It’s 11 a.m. in a cinema near La Canebière. When the lights come back on in the room, Junior, Tidiane, Abdoulaye, Aminata and Khalil go on stage to the applause of the Marseille high school students who have come to discover Everything is finethe documentary of which they are the five protagonists. An exchange takes place between the audience, the director and the heroes of the film.

“This work allows for dialogue around immigration, a difficult subject to discuss among young people,” immediately notes César, a second-year student. Naïs, professor of history and geography, adds “that beyond controversies and politics, this film is above all about human encounters, which allows us to go beyond clichés”.

Offering a concentration of encounters is precisely what director Thomas Ellis wanted to do: “When we talk about migration, we generally focus on dramatic situations such as deaths at sea, people trapped in all kinds of trafficking, forced to live on the streets or falling into delinquency. But if these people leave their country, it is with the hope of a better life. It is this quest that I wanted to film, without erasing the difficulties. »

Support from high school students

Driven by the vital impulse specific to adolescence, these five young people, who arrived in Bouches-du-Rhône as unaccompanied minors, burst onto the screen. Sitting alongside the director, Junior, 23, tells the story. “Having arrived in Martigues at the age of 17, I was full of dreams. I was welcomed by the volunteers of the association Le relighteur d’étoiles who took turns to accommodate me for more than six months. They guided me and reassured me. I will never forget them,” he says, with a smile on his face.

Even though he wasn’t able to become a footballer as he initially hoped, Junior saw other doors opening. He obtained a work-study CAP in hospitality, before becoming an employee in a professional baccalaureate at Sépia, a Marseille restaurant. “Every morning, I am happy to go to work with my colleagues and my employers. They trust me. I feel like I’ve been accepted. »

Once the debate is over, Thomas Ellis distributes large envelopes to each of those he calls “his superheroes”. They contain dozens of letters of support sent to them by high school students. Because the film, placed under the patronage of National Education, has already been seen in preview in around twenty educational establishments in France.

Sitting in the cinema lobby, Tidiane reads the letters: “It’s touching to read these letters sent by young people our age. In this one, a student writes to me that my career made him aware of social inequalities. »Arrived in France two years ago, at the age of 15, he completed a CAP as a truck driver, the job his father did in Ivory Coast. “My career forced me to grow up very quickly, especially since my family had entrusted me with responsibility for my little brother Abdoulaye. When I see myself in the film, I find myself very courageous! », he confides in a low voice.

These five migrants with different backgrounds are unanimous: learning a profession is a guarantee of stability. As she descended the Canebière alongside me, Aminata, 19, confirmed this to me: “Having a job was my first objective. » The young girl, who fled Guinea at 15 to escape a forced marriage, is today on an apprenticeship contract in a nursing home to become a caregiver.

“I needed to free myself from the pressure of traditions that was suffocating me. What do I appreciate most in France? Freedom, in all areas of my life. I savor every day this immense chance to take responsibility for my own choices. »

See their parents again

Here we are on the Old Port esplanade. Junior, thoughtful, looks in the direction of Notre-Dame-de-la-Garde. It was on the square in front of the basilica, in front of the memorial dedicated to sailors and migrants lost at sea, that in 2023, on the occasion of the Mediterranean Meetings, he read a text in front of Pope Francis.

“This extract evoking the shipwreck of Saint Paul had a very strong meaning for me. We sometimes hear: “Migrants are invading us, it is because of them that our problems arise.” Indirectly, when he was there, the Pope responded to this, in his gestures and his speeches. He said that we must know how to accept migrants, because they carry within them dreams, stories, first names. These are people who are looking to emancipate themselves and get out of it. Of course, some of us don’t behave properly. But most come for a better future and feel, like me, immense gratitude towards those who welcome them. »

SO, Everything is fine in the best of all possible worlds? No, of course, there is still a long way to go for these five young people who dream of seeing their parents again, present in the film through the videos and text messages exchanged. “To reassure them, we tell them that everything is fine, even when it’s not true,” confides Tidiane, with a gentle smile.

On the quay, right next to us, a fisherman unloads a few baskets of fresh fish. Aminata, Khalil, Junior, Tidiane and her brother Abdoulaye observe the small boat, then turn their gaze out to sea, thoughtful. One day, I promise, they will go visit their loved ones on the other side of the Mediterranean.