Starring:
Firat Ayverdi (17-year-old Bilal)
Vincent Lindon (Simon)

What spoke to you about WELCOME?

"I was immediately swept away when Philippe told me the story. I remember telling him at the end of a luncheon together that I would read the screenplay purely for the pleasure of it. I was already sure that I wanted to make the film. Later, after having read it, I called to tell him just how much I was taken with this very beautiful blend of roughness and tenderness, and that I was so impatient to start filming that we needed to get started right away.

What I like about Philippe’s moviemaking is that he is able to take on very strong subject matters – in this case the fate of refugees in Calais – without taking a head-on approach. He’d rather that you get attached to the characters, to their emotions, those of Simon and Bilal, because everything in the film is connected: the smaller story and the larger picture. The drama is that much stronger for it."

Did Philippe Lioret talk to you about Simon?

"In just a few words. The fact is, we mostly spoke about minute details. The instinctive elements that make up a character. during the shoot, we spoke for hours at the hotel bar – but not necessarily about the film.

We spoke about life, women, our children, movies we liked…"

Filmmakers:

Christophe Rossignon (Executive Producer)
Philip Boëffard (Associate Producer)
Laurent dailland (A.F.C.) (Cinematographer)
Nicola Piovani, Wojciech Kilar, Armand Amar (Music)
Andréa Sedlackova (Editor)
Fanny Drouin (Costumes)
Judith Gayo (Make-up)
Olivier Hélie (Production Director)
Yves Brover (Art Director)
Pierre Mertens, Laurent Quaglio, Eric Tisserand (Sound)
Lioret, Emmanuel Courcol and Olivier Adam (Co-Writers)
Béatrice Pollet (Script)

Philippe Lioret Director

WELCOME is Lioret's sixth feature, his previous films include DON"T WORRY, I'M FINE (2006), THE LIGHT (2004), MADEMOISELLE (2001), TENUE CORRECTE EXIGÉE (1997), and LOST IN TRANSIT (1993).

How did WELCOME come about as a project?

"First of all, it came from a strong desire to make a film about this particular subject and no other. About people who, fleeing their homelands in distress, want at all costs to reach this Eldorado, which to their eyes is England. Yet after an improbable journey they find themselves stuck in Calais - frustrated, ill treated and humiliated- just a few kilometers from the English coastline that they can actually see from where they are.

I was speaking about this one evening with Olivier Adam, and I realized that this place was a bit like the Mexican border, our Mexican border, and that it would only take a bit of digging into the subject to come up with a strong piece of drama. I spoke about it to Emmanuel Courcol, and we started thinking about a story that could take place in this framework." - Philippe Lioret, Director