Obscure Night – Wild Leaves (The Burning Ones, The Obstinate)
by
MOVIE CATEGORY
The enclave of Melilla is somehow an anomaly: a piece of Spain on what should really be Moroccan territory. As in the case of the neighboring Ceuta, many migrants from Northern or sub-Saharan Africa gather in Melilla hoping for a better future. Here they have Europe in plain sight every day, or at least the gigantic ferry called Trasmediterranea. Here they live within of reach of their great dream, to cross the border into the European Union.
In his documentary, Sylvain George gives an account of mostly young men from the Maghreb: they are called Harragas, “those who burn” (their papers, in order to avoid being sent back to their countries) and tells a story of endless waiting and abandonment in a liminal non-place from which it seems impossible to escape.
DIRECTORY
Born in Lyon, France, he holds several degrees from EHESS and Sorbonne: philosophy, law, political science and cinema. Since 2006, he has made documentaries on the themes of immigration and social movements. He has collaborated with artists involved in art and politics, such as Archie Shepp, William Parker, Okkyung Lee, John Edwards, John Butcher, Serge Teyssot-Gay, Sylvain Luc, and Nicolas Crosse. Exhibitions have been dedicated to his work at Cinémathèque française (2008), Filmmaker Festival (2008), Doc’s Kingdom (2009), Subversive Festival (2010), Slovenian Cinematheque (2011), Courtisane Festival (2011), CineMigrante Festival (2011), Punto de Vista International Documentary Film Festival (2012), Lima Independent Film Festival (2013), MedFilmfestival (Rome, 2013), Milano Film Festival (2013), Festival du Film Français/Cinémathèque nationale de l’Équateur (2013), the French branch of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (2014), Cinemigrante Bogota (2015), Festival Internacional do Filme Documentário e Experimental (2015), VII Semana dos Realizadores (2015), FIDOCS (2016), FORUM DOC (2017), Museo Reina Sofía (2018), EDOC (2019) and Pupille – Kino in der Uni (2020). In 2012 he was a guest artist at the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar. He teaches at the Institut d’études politiques in Paris (IEP) and gives lectures and workshops around the world.
