Programme 2

Traverser
Joël Akafou, Belgium, Burkina Faso and France, 2020, 77 min.

Traverser (2020) begins and ends with a mother and a son, connected across oceans through prayers, poor signal —and Akafou’s camera—. We are immersed in a personal experience of immigration: it is Inza’s, the protagonist of Vivre Riche (2017). By the time he greets Akafou’s handheld camera, Inza is already in Europe. Traverser begins after the Mediterranean crossing, after the Libyan nightmares. Stranded in Italy, Inza is looking for a way to get to France. He has fled the “campo” (detention center), and is now taking refuge at Michelle’s place, his current girlfriend. But make no mistake: Akafou’s is no film à these. Surely, we experience the agonizing wait and administrative ordeals of undocumented migration, but Traverser never loses sight of Inza’s story: his moral entanglements, the conviviality and the friends that surround him everywhere he goes. Women —both present and absent— are key to this story: Inza’s hopes of settling down rest on his female conquests, those that he left behind drive his venture. Through the tale of a journey across Europe, Traverser allows us to feel the ties that hold us back —which may also be those that make us leave—. 

Jade de Cock de Rameyen