On the road to Briançon, David (Benjamin Lavernhe), an uneventful physiotherapist, crashes into a young exiled boy, Joko (Youssouf Gueye) at the wheel of his car, about to be arrested by the police.
Following his instinct, David helps him hide in his trunk and welcomes him to his companion Gabrielle (Julia Piaton) who lives with her two children, before taking him to a shelter.
Shocked by the fate of this teenager, David rallies to the cause of the activists he meets and then undertakes to come to the aid of migrants who have risked their lives to flee their country of origin.
His action does not take long to attract the attention of the police.
When Joko disappears, he goes looking for him everywhere, until his own life and that of his family are turned upside down.
Read alsoTrailer: Sara Giraudeau and Benjamin Lavernhe, ready for a troubled market in
The Sixth Child
This first film by writer Émilie Frèche as a director is inspired by the true story of the “7 de Briançon”.
In this case dating from 2018, the Gap Criminal Court sentenced seven activists aged 22 to 52 for facilitating the irregular entry of foreign nationals into France during a demonstration that left Italy.
The 7 of Briançon had then been sentenced to sentences ranging from six months in prison suspended to twelve months in prison, including four firm, for two of the members, also prosecuted for rebellion.
Before being finally released on appeal three years later.
Trailer: Sara Giraudeau and Benjamin Lavernhe, ready for a troubled market in "The Sixth Child"
heroic brotherhood
The story of the film, which presents itself as fictional, is therefore based on a real drama to carry an undeniable political ambition: to raise awareness about migration issues, around the notion of fraternity.
Civil disobedience is erected here as a heroic value.
It is also for the director a very personal project because of her family history: her grandparents were in fact saved by people who provided them with false papers.
Screened in competition at the beginning of October for the 9th edition of the Saint-Jean-de-Luz International Film Festival,
Les Engagés
received the audience award.
The film, which also includes actors Bruno Todeschini, Catherine Hiegel and Hakim Jemili, will be released in theaters on November 16.
