BORDERS

Torn by famine and political turmoil, a disparate group of Africans, six men and one woman, cling to the dream of Europe. They are brought together through a variety of past hardships, lives in limbo through exile and the status of being forever 'illegal'. During their exodus, from Central to North Africa, across Senegal, Mauritania, Algeria and finally Morocco - the last frontier between Africa and Spain - their journey becomes as much about their own selves as the terrain they cross. The sole woman amongst the group, Amima, finds herself falling for Sipipi, with whom she must share this exhausting trek. Risking the little he has, Joe is driven to find the woman he loves, waiting in Spain. People-smugglers, the Mediterranean Sea, their own personal desires - each must be assessed and trusted in due course. In the face of incredible hardships, the seven travellers grasp at moments of humour, lightness and even the tragi-comic nature of their ordeal. Winner of the Youth Jury Award at the Namur Film Festival last year, Borders is a drama with an immediate agenda.

Mostéfa Djadjam has worked in the film industry as an actor, writer and director. After making a short film in 1982, Noir comme Blanc, he directed three documentaries: La Langue Nue (1986/96), André Queffurus, Exposition/Impressions (1992) and Tosca a la Bastille (1994). Borders is his first feature film.