Céline Roustan
Aly is dressed to impress and excited for the night ahead, as he is hoping for a new development with the girl he likes. On his way to the party she has invited him to the reality of his asylum seeker status gets in the way of his carefully laid plans. With Aly writer/director Thomas Wood presents a compelling slice of life storyline, which takes its audience through the ups and downs of the everyday life of a refugee in Paris.
“This image stayed with me and I decided to make a film”
For obvious reasons, we were curious to know more about what led Wood to crafting this story. He shared with us that the film’s starting point was actually when a friend of his, an asylum seeker with a French girlfriend, confessed that he “often found himself at parties with her and her friends but he did not feel totally present because of his situation”. With the director admitting that “this image stayed with me”, he got more familiar with the topic while volunteering for a non-profit, that distributes breakfast to refugees, in Paris. This is how he met Mamadou Diallo, his lead actor, and the other young asylum seekers who shared their stories with him.
The migrant crisis in Europe is hardly a new topic, yet, with such a personal and intimate approach, Wood captures the situation from a fresh angle, or as he calls it, “a more humble scale”. Opting for a portrait of a young asylum seeker who is already in Paris, instead of what we usually see in the news, he aimed to “break the distance between this young man and the viewer”. The screenplay was developed in collaboration with Diallo, and other refugees he met during his time volunteering. Furthermore, Wood was adamant about casting real asylum seekers in his short as he believed it was the “best way to create an accurate, intimate and subjective portrait”.
Mamadou Diallo as the titular Aly in Thomas Wood’s short
What really struck me in this film is how quickly I started rooting for Aly, hoping he would score that night. Wood immediately places us in his perspective and although we are aware of his situation, it’s the excitement for the evening that takes over as we watch him rehearse his pick up lines and get pumped up by his friend. It’s this connection to the lead that makes the second act all the more effective, when in a split second, his sweet and genuine excitement gets tarnished so quickly, reminding him of his status. At that point, as we’re deeply emotionally engaged in the outcome of his night, the subtlety of the third act sinks in even deeper by granting the viewer the space to process what has just happened.
With a film titled after the main character, it comes as no surprise that the lead performance is a key element to the success of the film and Diallo is a revelation! He makes his character instantly likable and brings so many nuances to his portrayal, capturing both his hope and disappointment with a moving authenticity. His performance is so restrained, it’s truly impressive how much is communicated through his eyes, in such affecting ways.
Aly made its way around the film festival circuit in 2021 with a notable stop at the FIFF of Namur, it also earned a Special Mention at the Palm Springs ShortFest. Wood is currently writing his first feature.