Crédits

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  • Researched and Written byPierre Mignault, H?l?ne Magny
  • Narration and InterviewsH?l?ne Magny
  • Directed byPierre Mignault
  • ImagesDenis Bourelle, Pierre Mignault
  • Sound RecordingGilles Turcotte, Lynne Tr?panier, Catherine Van der Donckt
  • Edited bySt?phanie Gr?goire
  • Sound EditingBeno?t Dame
  • MusicMarc-Andr? Paquet (Mes A?eux), ?ric Desranleau (Mes A?eux)
  • MixJean-Pierre Bissonnette
  • Production ManagerCatherine Drolet
  • Post-production DirectorIan Quenneville
  • Produced byNathalie Barton

Produced by

InformAction

Produced with the financial help of

Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian Cable Industry

Quebec (Film and Television Tax Credit - Gestion SODEC)

SODEC Soci?t? de d?veloppement des entreprises culturelles ? Qu?bec

Canada (The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit)

and the collaboration of

Radio-Canada

RDI

MAIN CHARACTERS

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Sabrine Tourki
Seventeen-year-old Sabrine is of Tunisian origin and is very candid about the difficulties she faces in her quest for identity. “With your parents, you have to justify your ‘Québécois’ decisions, and with Quebecers, you have to justify your ‘Tunisian’ decisions. You’re basically caught in the middle, neither one nor the other.” Torn between the traditional Tunisian values inculcated by her parents and those of the society in which she lives, Sabrine is struggling to define her identity and assume her difference.
 
Darlyne Antoine
“I live in Québec. I act like a Quebecer. I live as a Quebecer. So I’m more Québécois than Haitian.” Darlyne, at age 16, is experiencing the same family tensions as Sabrine, but affirms her Québec identity more strongly. “It’s a fact; it’s something you basically just have to accept.” With her perceptive view of Québec society and her upbringing as a child of immigrants, she is quite
an extraordinary person.
 
Chison Cam
Chison laughs at his parents’ stereotypes. “When I was in elementary school, my parents told me: you’re Chinese, you have to be good in math.” And he was at the top of his class in math, but also in French, a language his parents don’t speak. “It’s very hard to communicate with my parents. They don’t understand me, and I really don’t understand them.” At age 16, his quest for identity is already settled. “I’m neither Chinese, nor Québécois, I’m just human.” Nevertheless, during the year of filming, thinking about identity raised numerous questions for him about roots, ethnic origin and family traditions.


Press

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Plus qu'une réflexion, un plaidoyer pour le Québec métis de demain Jean-Christophe Laurence ? La Presse

Festivals

Rendez-vous du cin?ma qu?b?cois (RVCQ) Montreal 2009

Prix G?meaux de la diversit? 2010

Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montr?al (RIDM) 2008

Statement of intent

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Why did we make Born To Be Here? Because we were struck by these young first-generation Quebecers who say they are caught in the middle in the cultural clash between their immigrant parents and the society in which they live. With so little mingling between Québec’s cultural communities and les Québécois de souche – old-stock Quebecers – these children face wrenching choices in deciding who they are.
 
What determines identity? One’s ethnic origin, nationality, language, family, society? All modern nations are grappling with this question. How do we define ourselves through our history – our collective history and our individual histories? That’s what this documentary seeks to understand, through the experiences of Sabrine, Darlyne and Chison, three students at a multi-ethnic high school in the Saint-Michel district of north-end Montreal. The film follows them for an entire year, at school and at home with their families. These kids are fighters and winners; they have their eyes firmly fixed on the future and don’t judge or blame anyone for the exclusion they feel. Their honest, forthright comments help us discover the reality of young Quebecers who are born here and grow up with mainstream cultural values but whose parents often remain ghettoized. Getting to know these kids might teach us more about who we are too.
 
Over the course of the year, we shared in their reflections on integration and Québec identity – theirs and ours. By coincidence, the filming took place during a year that began with the reasonable accommodation crisis and ended with Montréal-Nord on the verge of riot. So the subject couldn’t be more topical. Instead of the stereotypes that are fuelling the controversy in the media and dividing Quebecers, Born To Be Here proposes a unifying vision. We will reach out to these youngsters who are Quebecers linguistically, culturally and by birth but who are still viewed as “the other.” In the film, we want to get close to them, to include them, to give them a chance to help us understand what they’re experiencing and feeling. Because, like all our children, they are Québec’s future.

H?l?ne Magny & Pierre Mignault

Short summary

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Born To Be Here is the story of Sabrine, Darlyne and Chison, three first-generation Quebecers struggling to affirm their identity. Caught between their immigrant parents and Québec society, both of which fear assimilation, these teenagers face special obstacles in defining who they are. What is their identity? How do they see themselves – in their own eyes, and in the eyes of those around them?
 
Their honest, forthright and affecting stories offer a whole new vision of what it means to be a Quebecer.

Long summary

Born To Be Here looks at the daily lives of three teenagers in the Saint-Michel district of north-end Montreal. All are first-generation Quebecers, of Arab, Asian or Haitian descent. We accompany them on their quest for identity, a quest in which they face obstacles their classmates don’t have to contend with. Caught in the middle between their immigrant parents and Québec society, both of which fear assimilation, the Quebec-born children of immigrants struggle to establish their place and identity. But what is their identity? How do they see themselves – in their own eyes, and in the eyes of those around them?
 
This is the story of Sabrine, Darlyne and Chison, three high school students who are at the crucial age of trying to forge a sense of their own identity. We watch as they live, grow and ponder these issues over the course of a year, at home in their families and at École Joseph-François-Perrault. They speak openly of their fears and dreams, their frustrations and their love of Québec. Born here and educated in the French public school system, they have grown up with Quebec cultural values and demand to be recognized as an integral part of Québec society, which nevertheless persists in viewing them as outsiders.
 
Born To Be Here is a film about cultural clashes and integration, about being torn between two worlds, about obstacles met and overcome, about questions and possible answers. It’s a film about the new face of Québec as seen through three insightful adolescents, and it shows that, more than ever, cultural pluralism is something all Quebecers will have to come to terms with in affirming their identity.

With the participation of Huynh Minh Chau, Cam Say Dong, Samuel Antoine, Kaouthar Tourki, Martin Bibeau, Jean-Yves Sylvestre, Maryse Dagenais, Stéphanie Tran, Badredine Tourki, Ikrame Tourki, Khouloude Tourki 
and
the staff and students of Joseph-François-Perrault High School and 
with the precious collaboration of Michèle Magny.