The Last Shelter

A uniquely intimate insight into the plight of West African migrants, The Last Shelter is concerned not with macro political conflicts, but with the lives of those affected. Told entirely from within a Malian halfway house, a refuge both for those trying to escape to Europe and for those who have failed or have been sent home, the film unfolds through fly-on-the-wall observation and quiet conversation between residents as they slowly open up to one another, forming something of a family of their own inside its walls, before their respective times come to move on. Punctuated by experimental passages of almost surreal beauty, the film seamlessly balances the characters’ hopes and fears, love, tragedy and their desperate determination, while its most intimate moments take on an almost confessional air. The Last Shelter is profoundly moving and striking in the trust it has earned from its subjects.