- Director: Fernand Melgar
- Country: Switzerland
- Year: 2011
- Length: 100 minutes
- Genre: Documentary
- Screening Times: Wednesday, February 29th, 2012, at 8 pm
Synopsis
In Switzerland’s Frambois detention centre, refugees anxiously await confirmation of their requests for asylum while living in fear of the “special flights” that face those who are rejected, returning them to their countries of origin and crushing their dreams of a new life. Fernand Melgar’s follow-up to his 2008 documentary The Fortress—which focused on the registration centres where newly arrived refugees plead their case for asylum—is a deeply affecting portrait of the legal limbo that faces thousands of detainees every year. Melgar evocatively captures the atmosphere of agonizing tedium and sudden, shocking rupture that characterizes these institutions: deportation notices arrive swiftly, with no option for appeal, and the physical removals from the centre are even more harrowing as the wardens often develop deep connections with the detainees. The second instalment in Melgar’s multi-part documentary project—which will culminate in a series of short web-based films following detainees back to the countries to which they were deported—Special Flight is a timely and urgent study of one of the most pressing human rights issues of this century.
Director’s Biography
Fernand Melgar was born in 1961 into a family of anarcho-syndicalist Andalusian exiles in Tangier. He accompanied his parents when they emigrated illegally to Switzerland in 1963. This self-taught independent filmmaker and producer has been part of Climage, an association that is a documentary reference in Switzerland. In 2008, his previous documentary THE FORTRESS obtained the Golden Leopard at the Locarno International Film Festival as well as numerous international awards.
Festivals and Awards
- Grand Prix du Festival – Festival Watch Docs Varsovie
- Grand Prix du Meilleur Documentaire – 25e Edition du Festival International de Cinema Francophone en Acadie (FICFA)
- Mentione Spéciale du Jury du Festival – Festival des Libertes Bruxelles
- Premier Prix du Jury des Jeunes – 65e Locarno Film Festival
External Links