2014 CNEX 國際華人紀錄片影展

流離之所 The Fortress     [台灣首映]

 瑞士 Switzerland / 2008 / 104 min / 導演 Director：Fernand MELGAR

[35mm放映]

2008 盧卡諾影展 明日之豹獎 

2009 日本山形影展

信義威秀11/1,17:30   誠品信義11/7,15:10

男人、婦女、孩童；羅馬尼亞人、多哥人、科索沃人、哥倫比亞人。

在瑞士一所難民收容中心裡，每個人被分類、檢視、審查，以確定是否符合受庇護的條件，得以正式合法地留在瑞士。

攝影機深入收容中心，透過非常近距離的紀錄與觀察，導演賦予每個人姓名與故事，讓觀眾感受他們的等待、懷疑、痛苦與喜悅。

這個暫時的庇護所，是未來新生活的希望，還是遣返的中繼站？

Men, women and children from Romania, Togo, Georgia, Kosovo and Colombia arrive each week on Switzerland’s doorstep. They are running from war, dictatorship, persecution, climate change and economic problems. After life threatening struggles to reach Switzerland they are guided to one of the five processing centres of which Vallorbe is one.

 The staffs of Vallorbe manage the welcome as well as the stay of these people. They also have to decide the asylum based on only two interviews. Looks are exchanged between the staff and the asylum seekers, these looks go from kind to wary to often evasive. This film sheds light on a reality where cultural differences and differences in status – on one side the decision makers on the other the asylum seekers – is the daily routine.

The Fortress puts us in the middle of this daily sorting of human beings. We gained access inside this former luxury hotel now surrounded by barbed wire only after long negotiations with the authorities. This is an unprecedented, respectful look into the sometimes very emotional daily life at the Centre. The film’s narrative which almost resembles fiction at times follows these “characters” through their pain, doubt and joy. Without taking sides and with sensitivity and emotion this film offers a raw human experience. Inevitably this film asks the question of how we treat others as citizens but also as human beings.