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WELCOME

Directed by Philippe Lioret

YEAR 8 | FILM 2
France | 2009 | Drama | French, English and Kurdish w/ English subtitles

Nominated for 10 César Awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor

WINNER - Best Picture - 2010 Lumiere Awards

"Extremely evocative!  Newcomer Ayverdi is a significant discovery."
- Jonathan Romney, Screen Daily

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Running Time: 105 Minutes

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Check Out This DVD's Short Film THE BERLIN WALL WELCOME Film Credits WELCOME Customer Reviews Write a Review for WELCOME
Synopsis
Bilal, a 17-year-old Kurdish refugee, has struggled his way through Europe for the last three months, trying to reunite with his girlfriend, who recently emigrated to England. But his journey comes to an abrupt halt when he is stopped by authorities in Calais, on the French side of the Channel. Left with no other alternatives, he decides to swim across. Bilal goes to the local swimming pool to train, where he meets Simon, a middle-aged swimming instructor in turmoil over his imminent divorce. Simon agrees to help Bilal, hoping to win back the affection of his wife, who does volunteer work helping immigrants. But what begins as a relationship based on self interest, develops into something much bigger than Simon could ever have imagined, as he too will ultimately risk everything to reach happiness.
DVD Special Features
Short Film: The Berlin Wall by Paul Cotter
Cast and Crew
Starring: Vincent  Lindon as Simon
Starring: Firat  Ayverdi as Bilal
Supporting: Audrey Dana as Marion
Director: Philippe Lioret
Writer: Philippe Lioret
Photos

To download: Click a image below for a full-sized image. Right click (or mac: ctrl + click) and select "Save this image as...", "Save picture as..." or "Download to disk".

Bilal (Firat Ayverdi) and Simon (Vincent Lindon)
Bilal (Firat Ayverdi) and Simon (Vincent Lindon) LS
Bilal (Firat Ayverdi) and Simon (Vincent Lindon) on Beach
Bilal (Firat Ayverdi)
Bilal (Firat Ayverdi) and Simon (Vincent Lindon) in Car
Director Philippe Lioret
WELCOME Cover Art

Jeff in Seattle - Customer Review
What an excellent film! "Welcome" was shown at the Seattle International Film Festival with rave reviews. I didn't see "Welcome" then, but I was curious to see it. Once I got the film, I agree that Welcome's praises were well deserved. It has a great storyline, excellent performances by all involved, and beautifully executed. "Welcome" is about how some people do things that have an ulterior motive, but that breaks down and a strong friendship bond is forged instead. One man uses another to save his marriage from an impending divorce, but instead helps a young man pursue his love interest by teaching him to swim across the English Channel to bypass the custom authorities. Love knows no bounds.

Redmosquito - Customer Review
One of the best movies I've seen in the past 20 years! Powerful, sensitive, enveloped in realism. A 'Hollywood' film would never have ended the movie in the same fasion. This film, the actors and director obviously were more concerned about 'truth telling', than box office dollars. My humanness was apparent all through this film! Bravo!
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