Bilal, 17, has travelled illegally across Europe in an attempt to reunite with his girlfriend Mina, who has moved to England. He finally reaches Calais, in France, but with all legal options exhausted, Bilal resolves that his only option is to learn to swim, and make the dangerous crossing himself.

An exiled Kurdish boy’s relentless journey of migration to England meets the stagnant existence of a swimming instructor played by Vincent Lindon in this raw, realist, and humanist drama. Set in Calais, Welcome highlighted the French immigration system’s cruelty before the current refugee crisis.