February 1939. Spanish Republicans are fleeing Franco’s dictatorship to France. The French government built concentration camps, confining the refugees, where they barely have access to hygiene, water and food. In one of these camps, separated by barbed wire, two men will become friends. One is a guard, the other is Josep Bartoli (Barcelona 1910 – NYC 1995), an illustrator who fights against Franco’s regime.

Supported by Cannes Film Festival 2020 Label:

“A strong subject and a rare form of animation with the use of jump-cut, alternating still and animated images, a mixture of press drawings, comic strip strokes and paintings: the first film by cartoonist Aurel, based on a screenplay by Robert Guédiguian's companion, Jean-Louis Milesi, evokes with conviction and poetry a story forgotten by History, that of the Retirada, the exodus to France of refugees from the Spanish Civil War in 1939. The power of line drawing to witness and re-enchant the world: Aurel's first film is ambitious.”