PAS DE CADEAU POUR NOEL

of ROMBOUT Rob

BELGIUM, 1986, 00:24:00

Production : CANAL EMPLOI
Genre : Documentary
Keyword : Immigration, Insertion, Poverty, Society, Loneliness

Summary :
Noël NTUNDA is forty-two. He was born in Rwanda and has lived in Belgium since the age of twelve. The CPAS (welfare center) gives him an allowance that is just enough for him not to starve. Days all look the same, punctuated haphazardly by chance encounters in bars and interviews with social workers. Noël agrees to show the places he visits daily and to tell of the places which have shaped his life-story in Belgium. The story oscillates between past and present. The videomaker, Rob, respectful of the characters, follows him in his meanderings and questions him point-blank. Noël also explains himself, he is funny, sweet and captivating : "There is an ocean between what I expected from life and what I have become." Or else : "If I could afford it... I would go swimming..."

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