Director's Statement - Julian Alexander
I was told once that movies are about one thing in the long run - relationships. Watching them build, and seeing how far people will go to hold on to them. You know, our relationships with each other, as well as with ourselves. That’s what stories are really about, in my eyes. I feel each day is a struggle of choosing what to hold on to, and what to let go. The borders and walls we build around each other. You know, in high school I ran hurdles for my track team, so when I think of the emotional walls we put in between each other, the athlete in me emerges and all I think about is the most efficient way to overcome them. That’s one thing that inspired me to write Léo. The world is torn amongst this conversation concerning immigration, refugees, and people’s right to seek a better life. I’ve been a spectator among this discussion as people debate the well being and rights of the lives of others - a debate that has led to unexpected consequences. Such as, “Brexit" and the new US president elect. As two very influential nations among others, preach isolation, and exclusion, the walls between us are becoming stronger. One thing that can travel freely in-between walls is art. That’s the bridge. A bridge that lends us a view into the other side. We first need to discover what’s tearing us apart, before we can begin to come together. This film, is part of that conversation. As we see change happen first hand with a smuggler, who has an unexpected connection with one of his passengers. We cross borders figuratively and literally in front and behind the camera. With a film crew from all over the world as part of the production.
Producer's Statement - Pilar Cartró Benavides
Léo was created for a screenwriting workshop by Julian in the Northern Film School. After some script development the School decided to support and commission the film. I joined the team as producer, and Luis came in as Cinematographer, and that’s how we started pre production in June 2016. Along the process we were very lucky to be supported by a great group of international film students and professionals from the UK and France, helping bring Léo to life.
I decided to engage with this project because I truly believed in the importance of telling this story. The theme of refugees and immigration has always been very relevant whatever the period, and these days it seems that responsibilities and rights are becoming unfortunately more blurred than ever. Léo as a character piece is more than anything special for its human interest, we see him change and struggle with a difficult moral question. The strength relies of the story is that it was inspired by real events and the truth is that today we are all faced by these questions, whether we choose to acknowledge it or not. The reality is such that during the stage of pre-production we had to travel to Calais for location scouting and on the way there, we were ourselves faced with a situation like the one in the film. Too often though, the motivation for people to help others is sadly, not people. But what’s right and what’s wrong?
From the beginning this has been an ambitious project, an international road movie. We were a crew from every place, same as our amazing cast, featuring Florent Hill from France with his compelling performance as Léo, and Houda Echouafni and Ako Ali as Fatima and Omar, they created the perfect trio on screen. Besides the budget, logistic and cinematography challenges of shooting this film, most of the time around a car in different countries, we believe and are proud to have created a good piece of storytelling work.