“Banlie.UE”: screening & live

Waël Sghaier, a Franco-Tunisian filmmaker from Seine-Saint-Denis, a French prefecture northeast of Paris, presents “Banlie.UE”, a documentary about the outskirts of Europe, which he completed in 2024.

The film begins with a question: could we say that the inhabitants of the popular suburbs of Paris have more in common with those living in the Raval district of Spain than with the inhabitants of the 5th arrondissement of Paris, in the (rich) centre of the French metropolis?

With this starting point, Waël travelled from Pantin, a commune in Saint-Saint-Denis, to the working-class districts of Bratislava, Stockholm, Athens, Brussels and Barcelona, in search of the common identity of these districts, thus making an informal and regional tour of Europe.

Through the testimonies collected during the trip, “Banlie.UE” reflects the challenges faced by the inhabitants of the periphery and the solutions they find to deal with them.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with the director and a concert by Ghoula, the music producer who created the music for the film.

Direction: Waël Sghaier

Gaffer: Justine Coulmy

Sound Engineer: Antoine Stevignon

Editing: Isabelle Nakamura

Music: Ghoula

Producers: Laëtitia Barone & Alice El Kouby

Duration: 52′

Born in Seine-Saint-Denis, Waël Sghaier is a self-taught filmmaker. He became known to the general public after the release of the documentary “My Incredible ’93”, which described a trip to Seine-Saint-Denis and was made with improvised media. The film was released in cinemas in 2018 and screened across France during a long tour of screenings. Waël chooses his questions and characters to evoke encounters and add depth to the narrative. His themes are linked to regions whose image has collapsed. He travels on the occasion of each project to places excluded from the official national narrative to draw the best from them.

A multi-dimensional artist with a diverse musical background, musician, producer, film music composer, Ghoula released his first album, “Hlib el-Ghoula” in 2016. Mixing electronic sounds with traditional music, using the vinyl he collects across North Africa, he creates unexpected compositions. His second album, “Demi-écrémé”, pays homage to the musical heritages of North Africa, sailing through electro-pop, techno, breakbeat and IDM.

www.ghoula-tn.bandcamp.com/album/demi-cr-m

* The film is screened with English subtitles.