Documentary

Border life

Border Life, shot in a border town between Benin and Nigeria, is a contemplation of space and movement. Of life pulsing through a locality set up to divide. Of unstoppable mobility where mobility is circumscribed and controlled. The camera doesn't fix things in place; it wanders. From checkpoint to city streets thronging with cars hiding smuggled goods from Italy and Thailand, from ambulant bankers to fishermen turned traffickers, a never-ending rush. A never-ending hustle. No time to stop for long conversations. No conventional characters but lives in motion captured for a fragment of a second. This essay film turns into an invitation to experience the daily life of those who live on and from the border, in fragments, in rhythms, in relentless flux.