Gagarin

By Fanny Liatard, Jérémy Trouilh. +14. France, 2020, 95′.

Youri, 16, has lived all his life in Gagarine Cité, a vast red-brick social housing project on the outskirts of Paris. He has always dreamed of becoming an astronaut. But when plans to demolish the housing complex leak out, Youri joins the resistance. With his friends Diana and Houssam, he embarks on a mission to save Gagarine, turning the property into his “spaceship” before it disappears into space forever.

The film was shot just before and during the demolition in summer 2019 of the Cité Gagarine housing project, in collaboration with its residents in Ivry-sur-Seine.