In a welcome tradition: Le Prix du passage, about the daily life of migrants with Alice Isazzi, is released in cinemas.

On the Apache poster from March 29, Alyssa Isaez is this week in the casting of Thierry Biniste’s film, Le Prix du Passage.

In this human drama, the young actress plays Natacha, a single mother struggling to raise her 8-year-old son. Walid (Adam Bessa), a migrant of Iraqi origin, is waiting to raise enough money to pay his way to England. Together they form a network of illegal crossings with the risks that follow.

Alice Isaaz shares the poster here with Adam Bessa, who has already been seen in the Netflix film Mosul, the action film Tyler Rake with Chris Hemsworth and the drama Harka, for which he won the best actor award in the Uncertain Regard section at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. He will also be joining the cast of Tyler Rake 2 starting June 16.

Written and directed by Sophie Gaydon and Pierre Chausson Thierry BinistHaving already directed the drama Bottle in the Sea in 2012 and has done a lot of work for television, especially the TV movies “The Killings”, the feature film was presented at the 15th edition of the Angoulême Film Festival de la Francophonie. .

Screenwriter Sophie Gaydon came up with the idea for this film about the departure of migrants to England when she was working with migrant associations. Thierry Biniste explains: “The project is inspired by the experience that screenwriter Sophie Gaydon had first in Paris, then in northern France, near Calais. He spent a lot of time there, working with associations and forging connections with migrants. His experience was invaluable to us both for writing the film and for shooting the film, even if it was necessary to update the story after the dismantling of the Calais jungle.*”

A story inspired by true stories

The director also points out that Natacha’s character is a bit scripted. “There’s a part of her in Natacha’s character; she’s whole and rebellious, often a hedgehog. As for Walid, Sam and all the migrant characters in the film, they’re inspired by people Sophie knew*.”

To prepare for filming, the filmmaker did a lot of research and, therefore, patted the migrant aid associations on the shoulders. Thus, he witnessed the difficulties these men and women had to join the family.

He emphasizes: “During the preparation of the film, I also had important meetings, both with the association fabric and with migrants who, for some, stay in France for a long time. Be here and nowhere at the same time. Let’s wait for the next place of residence, hoping for a solution, a transition. Experience that feeling of being stuck on the beach facing the sea when they want to leave. in England, often to join families. All this greatly enriched the story*”.

Filmed between Boulogne-sur-mer and Dunkirk, Le Prix du Passage highlights the treatment of migrants, particularly after the dismantling of the Calais Jungle. To avoid regrouping, CRS forces them to move constantly.

Thierry Biniste explains: “The main thing for the police is that nothing is permanent, there is no sustainable infrastructure. Associations go to these different camps to bring food, clothes, and what we witnessed was often very disturbing. I remember a couple who decided. They wash the migrants’ laundry. They installed it in their garage Four washing machines and every day they collect the laundry in plastic bags. They number it, wash it, dry it and put it back. Their water bill is colossal, but they have made it their mission* .

In the feature film, Natacha’s character decides to smuggle migrants just to earn money so she can raise her child. But little by little his character will develop and become more “human”. The director says on this subject: “Thanks to this ordeal, he finally finds himself: perhaps for the first time in his life, he dared to do something so crazy, and his galvanization is the first step towards his freedom.

If the film is called “The Price of Passing”, it is because everyone “passes”, everyone gains something in the process. For Natacha, this is the price to be able to get out of the situation*”.

According to Philippe Liore’s greetings and Guillaume Renusson’s Last Survivors, the price of passage It hits theaters this Wednesday.

* Comments taken from the film’s press kit