Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh’s lovely, moving feature debut sets its scene in Cité Gagarine – a vast red brick housing project on the outskirts of Paris – concocting a fantastical fiction around its real-life demolition in August 2019.
Isolated, inventive 16-year-old Yuri (Alseni Bathily) has lived there all his life. He dreams of becoming an astronaut, inspired by his namesake and the Gagarine’s too – Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, seen in ’60s archive footage opening the complex in a more optimistic age.
But now the Gagarine is in disrepair, and when plans to demolish it are leaked, Yuri joins with friends Diana (Lyna Khoudri) and Houssam (Jamil McCraven) in an attempt to save it, transforming the estate into his very own ‘starship’.
Wildly imaginative, Gagarine explores themes of isolation and community, using the physical authenticity of its setting to ground its starry-eyed metaphysics so that they seem almost plausible too. Exploring how we communicate with buildings, how they entwine with our memories, imaginations and selves, and how we cope with the effects of forces outside our control, it’s a tender study of stratospheric aspirations thriving against the odds.
Director: Fanny Liatard
Cast: Jamil McCraven, Lyna Khoudri, Alseni Bathily
12A / France / 98 mins / French (with English subtitles)
Presented as part of Future City Film Festival, which takes place biennially in the autumn but had to be postponed last year due to the pandemic. It will now run through 2022 as a series of special events with the support of the British Film Institute awarding funds from National Lottery.
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Booking Information
Booking is managed by Watershed’s Box Office. Book online or call 0117 927 5100.
One wheelchair space with a companion seat can be booked online per booker. If more are required, please call the box office.
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Accessibility
- Watershed’s main entrance and Box Office are both on the ground floor which is accessible via a ramped, electronically assisted entrance door.
- There are two Blue Badge parking spaces to the rear of Watershed on Canons Road.
- Guide dogs and hearing dogs are very welcome.
- The first floor of Watershed is accessible via lift from the main entrance and includes level access to all areas, including the cinemas and event spaces.
- The cinemas and event spaces have induction loops.
- There is an accessible toilet (with baby changing facilities) near Cinema 1. Follow the signs for the Cinemas and the accessible toilet is just on your left through the double doors before Cinema 1.
- There are gender neutral toilets in the cinema corridor on the first floor.
Visit Watershed’s Access page for more information.
Fractured Paris film season
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