This year, the Embassy of Switzerland has selected the film "Tapis rouge" for the Francophone Film Encounters.

The work of director Fred Bailiff plunges us into an unpleasing suburb of the city Lausanne, where a street educator tries to instill hope and motivation into a youth group.

Without any judgement, this touching and intriguing film is focus on the issues of integration of foreign communities into a country like Switzerland. In the current context of large migration flows into Europe, the theme of integration bears more practical meanings than ever. The film exposes certain social realities and offers its own solution facilitating the social assimilation. The film director Mr. Baillif will be present in several cities, sharing the audience with his own experience as street educator.

Synopsis of TAPIS ROUGE, by Frédéric Baillif, Kantarama Gahigiri

Fiction, 90 mins, November 2014

A social worker engaged with some youngsters of the suburbs of Lausanne, Switzerland, he helps them to write a movie script and pulls out all the stops to help fulfill their dream: go to the Film Festival in Cannes. A road movie in the direction of Cannes puts all the persuasions of a social worker and the young adults with varied social backgrounds in question. 

About Frédéric Baillif, 

Born in 1973 in Geneva, Fred Baillif has been a basketball player, a social worker and a DJ before turning his focus to cinema at the age of 25. He acquired his skill set in New York. Since then he has directed 10 documentaries, TV specials for the RTS show “Temps Présent” and a prime time documentary series for RTS about couples counseling. Five of his movies had a theatre release, including “Geisendorf” for which he won the “Vision du Réel award” in 2006. “Believers”, a 2010 Canal+ production, was the logical step further in his career. “Tapis Rouge”, his first feature length narrative film as a director attended many festivals around the world and won many awards.