Une saison en France

Chadian filmmaker Mahamat-Selah Haroun has lived in France for thirty years. A Season in France, the first of his films to be set there, gives a melancholy impression of how illegal immigrants experience France. Over the course of a season, we follow Abbas (Eriq Ebouaney), who has fled the war in Bangui with his son and daughter. While mourning the death of his wife, he works on building a new life.

With the best of intentions, he sells fruit for low pay; turns up at his appointments with the authorities, develops a relationship with a girlfriend and cares for his children. Nevertheless – in spite of having been a French teacher in Bangui – he is seen as a second-class citizen who should be deported. The hope ebbs out of Abbas's life as he gradually realises that he and his children are not welcome anywhere. Ebouaney captures this downward spiral perfectly.