INTERVIEW
It's a shocking story that Pierre-François Martin-Laval, aka "Pef", tells in his new film. After The Profs and the adaptation of the comic book Gaston Lagaffe , Fahim , whose release is scheduled for next Wednesday, features two Bangladeshi actors, Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Nanty. This new feature film tells the story of a young Bangladeshi who fled his country to arrive in France where he became a chess champion under the age of twelve.
With this new movie based on a true story, Pef goes from fictional comedy to realistic drama. The director discovered the story of Fahim in a show by Laurent Ruquier, on the advice of his director of photography. "I hear Fahim Mohammad tell his story.For three and a half years, he is homeless in the streets of Paris, Creteil.He is seven and a half when he arrives in France and [his ordeal] lasts until his twelve years, at the age when he is crowned champion of France, "he recalls.
"Fahim, I meet daily"
"I realized that I was soon 50 years old and that Fahim, I meet daily," says the actor, director and director. "When I'm in a restaurant, there's a Noura - the name of Fahim's father - who wants to sell me his red roses or a little Eiffel tower, I'm sorry for them but I keep going and I do not stop not to ask where they came from and how they ended up there. "
At the heart of this film, there is the desire for a collective awareness of the life course of these people presented as "figures" for "Pef". "We are shown migrants in boats and in camps and they are dehumanized," he says.
To mark the spirits, "Pef" has selected elements of the life of Fahim that speak volumes about the reality of hospitality in France. When, for example, at the prefecture, Fahim's father, Noura, meets an official who looks after migrants and asylum seekers.
As Noura does not speak a word of French, a Bangladeshi translator comes to his aid. But he distorts his words. While the woman asks him why he is in France, the translator explains that Noura wants to reach England. A goal he had never mentioned ... "This is the most unlikely scene in the film, I made 110 previews all over France and I noticed that at that moment the people are outraged, and sometimes they laugh, "says Pef.
Saved by France
Despite this success, Fahim, whose story is also the subject of a book, A clandestine king, appeared at the Arena in 2014, has yet to obtain papers. "Since he is of age, he can no longer benefit from his father's residence permit", says "Pef".
Fahim has now put chess aside. "He is taking a break because he realizes he has dropped out of school," says the director. He has just enrolled in HEC prep in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, after obtaining his baccalaureate. "He does not let go, he is not in France to annoy the French, he just loves the country that saved him, he should have died, and chess saved his life. his heart, "says" Pef ".