French youth finds a gun during a riot

After a chaotic night of rioting in a marginal suburb of Paris, three young friends, Vinz, Hubert and Saïd, wander around unoccupied waiting for news about the state of health of a mutual friend who has been seriously injured when confronting the police.

Léo, a retired policeman, seems concerned about the disappearance of a child in the neighborhood. Is he the boy's father or his captor?

The riots in France in June and July 23, following the murder of Nahel Merzouk by a police officer at point-blank range, are reminiscent of those in 2005, and once again demonstrate the systemic racism of the French state. Scenes plundered from various news sources. The music is of Brazilian and French origin.

During a whole month in late 2005, France made the news headlines the world over: rioting in the French suburbs! Young people from the suburbs all over France – often still in college or high school - came together each night to burn dustbins, cars, even schools. The riot prompted the decree of a state of emergency – something that has not been seen in France since the years of the war of independence in Algeria. In an effort towards appeasement, the government made promises to come to the aid of “abandoned” areas. Today, one year later, what has changed for the people in the suburbs? Have they managed to pick up the pieces? Have official bodies managed to transform promises into real measures on the field? Alice Diop - who grew up in neighboring Aulnay – took the temperature of the area in and around Clichy, the place where the riots broke out following the deaths of two of the town’s youngsters who perished in an electrical transformer station while fleeing from the police.

In the working-class neighborhoods of France, trust is broken between young people and the police. The slightest identity check carries within it the germs of a possible skid, rebellion or blunder. A case is emblematic of this impasse. For the first time in France, teenagers filed a complaint collectively for intentional violence against a police brigade of the 12th arrondissement of Paris. During this trial, it is the very mission of the police that will be indicted. Citizens, educators, lawyers or police officers, look for a way out and denounce the systematic use of violence that they consider illegitimate. By following their fight, this film lifts the veil on the mechanisms of this violence and the silences that surround it.

Dedicated to the particular case of urban violence in the French suburbs, this film captures their origins and consequences, and especially what they tell about our society. Immersion in the city of Hautes Noues in Villiers sur Marne, five years after the events of November 2005.