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In 1988 Alfred Merhan arrived in Paris' Charles de Gaulle Airport without papers. He was to remain stranded, living in the departure lounge for 12 years, as his case made its tortuous way through a bureaucracy. Or so we are led to believe. Not a mockumentary so much as a kind of cinematic hoax of extreme complexity. At no time in this film is it revealed that these events are anything but entirely real. At the film's conclusion, you will be certain they are... possibly.
Aspiring fictional director Paul Hugo wants to film Merhan's story and documentary filmmaker Glen Luchford wants to follow the making of Hugo's film. Are you keeping up? Sandwiched between these egos is the uncommunicative and highly eccentric Merhan, the almost silent star of this Rotterdam International Film Festival favourite. At some points the film veers toward Spinal Tap-esque absurdities, at others the poignancy of Merhan's refugee limbo is painful to the point of tears. Throughout, Hugo buzzes like an annoying, blood-hungry mosquito with a nasal New York drawl.
"Apparently effortless improvisations could only have been the product of finely honed writing and long hours of rehearsal." - Insideout Film
Glen Luchford is regarded as one of Britain's most successful photographers. He has worked in the fields of fashion, portrait and reportage for magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and Rolling Stone. Here to Where is Luchford's first film.