Little President (2020)

The media hype didn’t do any good for the Calais Jungle. Far from such echoes, Christophe Clavert’s concern is to come back to the sites – afterwards, otherwise. Beginning with clarifications as to how to do things. Thus, by way of a preamble, the scrupulous and detailed reminder of events and the political, administrative context of the jungle in Calais in 2016 while the places the film-maker evokes unfold through slow, methodical sequences. It’s about the tale’s rendition, from one time to another, and from the images of the regime unfolding, with its magnificent drawings taken back then, in counterpoint to the photographic archives and video. A work of hospitality, devoid of excessive light or spectacle, yet insisting on History’s memory, as the final annotation reminds us with striking dryness.