Vol spécial (2011)
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Directors
Inside Geneva’s Frambois detention centre, men awaiting deportation face mounting uncertainty, fear and resistance.
The story
At Geneva’s Frambois administrative detention centre, rejected asylum seekers, foreign nationals who have served their sentences, and undocumented migrants are held while awaiting deportation. Some have spent years in Switzerland, working, paying taxes and starting families; their detention can last up to 18 months. As each day passes in the closed facility, tension grows between the detainees and the guards. Fear and stress shape daily life, while friendships, hatred, respect and rebellion emerge among those held there. The prospect of deportation strains these relationships and intensifies the conflict between people who do not want to leave and the authorities charged with carrying out their removal.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
After *The Fortress*, which depicted the reception of asylum seekers in Switzerland, Fernand Melgar turns his gaze to the end of the migration journey. At the Frambois administrative detention centre in Geneva, men are deprived of their liberty while awaiting deportation. They are rejected asylum seekers, foreign nationals who have served their sentences, or undocumented migrants, and they are ordered to leave after—some of them having spent several years in Switzerland, worked, paid taxes and started families. Their detention can last up to 18 months. In this closed setting, tension mounts with each passing day. On one side are caring guards; on the other, detainees overcome by fear and stress. Bonds of friendship and hatred, respect and rebellion develop, until news of deportation is received as a betrayal. Those who refuse to leave and may put up strong physical resistance are handcuffed, tied up and forcibly placed on a plane for a “special flight,” which most often takes place amid distress and humiliation.
Genres
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