Synopsis:

Made for BBC2 and premiered at the Sheffield International Documentary Festival, this film looks at the transient nature of Calais in Northern France where refugees and migrants from all over the world are desperate for a new life in England. Director Mark Isaacs presents a microcosm of eccentric individuals, all centered near the Eurotunnel in this French harbor town. In contrast to the likable and smiling Ijaz, who during the bombing of Kabul lost his entire family and whose only dream is to reach England, we meet Steve, a British citizen who is running a not-so-successful English pub on the French side of the tunnel. Another striking contrast is presented in the young Lithuanian Ernesta, who is traveling to England for work, and the elderly British woman Tulia, whose brokerage company is on the edge of bankruptcy. This collage of individuals and their stories is completed by images of British tourists, who are traveling to Calais for cheap food and whose inhumane attitudes and opinions stand in sharp contrast to Ijaz's faith that the British are morally superior and more advanced than the prejudiced French.