NON-FICTION | 5 EPISODES | 2024

Chronicles of a Paris suburb.

December 2020. Just outside the terminus of metro line 5, work has begun on the demolition of the Bobigny 2 shopping center, symbolizing the end of an era for a whole generation of residents who, in their youth, had made it a place to live and meet people. The construction site for the new district, known as “CŒUR DE VILLE”, has been awarded to the private developer COGEDIM, which promises “a far-reaching urban metamorphosis”. The contract was signed a few months earlier by the UDI, between the two rounds of the municipal elections, just before the party lost the mayoralty to the Communists.

Fabienne Laumonier and Thomas Guillaud-Bataille bring us the fruits of a three-year documentary immersion in the heart of Bobigny. In five mosaic episodes, they give voice to the city and the lives we lead there, its points of tension, its fault lines and its metamorphoses. Five harsh and sensitive tableaux, often funny, sometimes tragic, where intrigues and points of view intermingle. Five chapters that paint the portraits of residents attached to their city, often coming from elsewhere to write their history here, and also a certain History of France.

To tell the story of Bobigny and its inhabitants, Fabienne Laumonier and Thomas Guillaud-Bataille wanted to multiply their viewpoints. To decentralize. One of the project’s major features was the organization of introductory courses in documentary podcasting. These courses, open only to Balbynien-nes, enabled us to enter the city in a more organic way, taking the project in unexpected directions. They were also an opportunity to meet some of the recurring characters in the series, or people who subsequently collaborated in the construction of the documentary (writing sequences, collecting words and moods).

Little by little, through internships and film shoots, they established the places, characters and stories they followed for three years.

A documentary series by Fabienne Laumonier and Thomas Guillaud-Bataille

Director: Christophe Rault

Music : Kaïro Beats, Tulian Bopart and Nadir On the beat

Illustration : Rosalie Stroesser

A Making Waves production with the MC93 – Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis, Est Ensemble, Est Ensemble Habitat, the BNP Paribas Foundation, the Prefecture of Seine-Saint-Denis and the City of Bobigny.

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THREE YEARS IN BOBIGNY

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