30. Film Festival della Lessinia
Bosco Chiesanuova (Italia)
23 August - 1 September 2024

The very young Riyad and Zaïd lead a low-key life in the suburbs of Lyon, except when working as skilled luxury car thieves at night, on behalf of Chérif, a small-town criminal. A badly finished job in Switzerland turns into a breakaway race for salvation. Pursued and reached by the police, the young criminals fall one by one in a gunfight, leaving only Riyad. The boy flees through the woods and desperately tries to return to France by walking through the snowy mountains. In his difficult journey, constantly hunted by the police, the boy will find very little help and the open hostility of a numb civilisation rendered insensitive by well-being. Inspired by true events, the film is the realistic, and at the same time heartfelt, photograph of a lost childhood, the story of a march towards an impossible but necessary salvation.

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  Jean-Stéphane Bron

  Born in Lausanne in 1975, he earned a diploma from École Cantonale d'Art. He became known, in particular, for the documentaries Mais Im Bundeshuus: Le Génie Helvétique (2003) and Cleveland contre Wall Street (2010). His 2006 film, Mon frère se marie, was the subject of a Hollywood remake.   He is the cofounder of the production house Bande à Part Films.