Sylvain George compiled this gripping, gritty black & white film from images from his earlier documentary QU’ILS REPOSENT EN REVOLTE (DES FIGURES DE GUERRES I) from 2010. In it he shows about three years in the lives of illegal immigrants who have become stranded in the Northern French port of Calais, on their way to England. They are the 'people without papers', mainly men of North African origin or from the Middle East. They are staying here illegally and spend their time surviving and fleeing the police.
In an experimental form, FRAGMENTS shows scenes from the everyday lives of these people on the fringes of a Western society in which they are not welcome. Cool registrations of the cluttered, hostile no-man’s-land and warlike images of pursuit are juxtaposed with interviews in which several men talk frankly about how they feel. This provides painful stories and insights into the fact that these men are not looking for a ‘better life’ but are fleeing to stay alive.