Mansouria

In one of the areas of Marseilles, a child runs from place to place, from the courtyard to the classroom, crossing an undefined piece of land occupied by Gitans. In each of these places, the child meets groups of children who sing and dance to tunes from the 50’s or to music that reminds them of their origins. Each meeting is a pretext to the beginning of the story of a dream.

This film, shot during the stay of a dance troupe in the area of La Bricarde in Marseille, was developed by the Ministry of Culture under the aegis of social and urban development. Through dance and music, Luc Riolon and Josette Baïz, who have since long worked with children, traced the sensitive map of the blend of ethnic origins in this city. The dreams and the hopes of the children were acted out by them. Solitude, inability to communicate between boys and girls, the want to meet people and party, the fantasies of marriage and of social recognition are some of the themes brought up with a sense of humour as much as with seriousness, in a succession of sequences acted out, danced and filmed with shyness or with a sense of exhibitionism.