‘Zero F***s Given’ Producer Kidam Boards Olivier Meys’ CineMart Selection ‘Life Ahead’ (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Christopher Vourlias Alexandre Perrier and François-Pierre Clavel’s Bordeaux-based production outfit Kidam, which produced last year’s Cannes Critics’ Week prize winner “Zero F***s Given,” has boarded “Life Ahead,” director Olivier Meys’ story of friendship between two young asylum-seekers, which heads to the Rotterdam Film Festival’s CineMart co-production market this week.“Life Ahead” tells the story of Jahia, a 16-year-old Eritrean girl who lives in an asylum center in Belgium, where her dim prospects for the future cast a shadow over her life.

Then she meets the feisty and spirited Nèta, a young Moldavian girl, who drags Jahia along with her crazy energy.But when Nèta’s family is forced to leave the country, the young girl falls into a deep sleep – a victim of the malady known as “resignation syndrome.” Jahia swears to do everything in her power to wake her up and not allow her friend to succumb to despair.

Meys told Variety he was inspired to tell the story of “Life Ahead” upon returning to Belgium after spending more than a decade in China, where he grew accustomed to life as an outsider. “Coming back here, trying to settle down in this small country, I was interested in those people who were trying to do that and willing to do that,” he said.His research led him to the welcome centers for asylum seekers scattered throughout the country.

It was a slow process of gaining the trust of the residents he met. “The situation is difficult for them. At first, they are not so eager to speak,” he said. “But step by step, I could connect with them.”The director said he’s always been drawn to different cultures and walks of life, having lensed previous documentary and fiction films in Lebanon, Chile, and China.