Documentary

I used to like the sea

Film informations

Idriss Gabel

They come from Chechnya, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Iraq, Syria. They have fled the war with their parents, or all kinds of persecution, or a life of deprivation. On arriving in Europe, they soon find themselves without means of subsistence or housing and, by necessity, end up as asylum seekers.
These children did not expect the journey to Europe, nor had they even imagined it. Often, their parents awaken them in the middle of the night, fearing denunciation by a neighbour. The children are swiftly dressed and propelled into a distant world on dangerous paths along which they must face, despite their tender age, many dangers.
They grow up on the road, faster and more painfully than is normal, always haunted by the fear of death, drowning, dehydration, serious injury, and end up in lands, whose language and codes they do not know.
And after months of walking, crossing seas, climbing mountains, how can they return to a normal childhood? How do they erase the memories of death and human suffering? How can they wipe away the trauma and all the lies along the way? How can they rebuild their lives, make a place for themselves in the setting of the Red Cross centres, which are in every way different from their town, their village?

company credits and distribution

Filmography