HISTORY

It is winter at an emergency shelter for the homeless in Lausanne. Every night at the door of this little-known basement facility the same entry ritual takes place, resulting in confrontations which can sometimes turn violent. Those on duty at the shelter have the difficult task of “triaging the poor”: the women and children first, then the men. Although the total capacity at the shelter is 100, only 50 “chosen ones” will be admitted inside and granted a warm meal and a bed. The others know it will be a long night.

Sunday, December 13th 8:00 p.m.

Switzerland, 2014

101 minutes

Director:

Fernand Melgar.

Languages: 

French

Subtitles:

Spanish, english

Production:

Fernand Melgar

Climage

Radio Télévision Suisse – SRG SSR.

Photography:

Fernand Melgar.

Edition:

Karine Sudan.

DIRECTOR

Fernand Melgar (born 1961 in Tangier) is a Swiss actor, producer, director and film editor. The son of Spanish immigrants, Melgar has lived in Lausanne since 1963. Melgar's documentary The Fortress (French: La forteresse) garnered eleven international film festival awards

FESTIVALS & AWARDS

•  Locarno, Locarno Film Festival, Mention spéciale du Jury des Jeunes 2014
• Seville, Seville European Film Festival, Rosario Valpuesta Award 2014
• Seville, Seville European Film Festival, Second Prize in the Las Nuevas Olas Section 2014
• Prizren, 14th Dokufest International Documentary and Short Film Festival Prizren
• Tel Aviv, 17th Docaviv International Documentary Film Festival Tel Aviv
• München, 30. DOK.fest Internationales dokumentarfilmfestival München,
• Linz, 12th Crossing Europe Film Festival Linz, 2015
• Donostia, 13th Human Rights Film Festival San Sebastian,
• Buenos Aires, 17th Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival,
• kyiv, Docudays UA 2015 International Documentary Human Rights Film Festival
• Den Haag, Movies That Matter Festival 2015,
• 16th One World International Human Rights Film Festival Prague,
• 38th Göteborg International Film Festival,
• 25th Tromso International Film Festival
• 14th Watch Docs Human Rights Int. Film Festival Warsaw,
• Wien, This Human World 2014 Int. Filmfestival der Menschenrechte.
• 1st Porto Post Doc Film & Media Festival,
• Cairo, 7th Panorama of The European Film,
• 34th International Film Festival of Amiens,
• 17e RIDM International Documentary Meetings Montréal
• DOK Leipzig – Internationales Festival für Dokumentar- und Animationsfilm
• 18th Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival
• Bienne, 10th Festival du Film Français d'Helvétie