Toulouse, the Mirail. One of the biggest impoverished neighborhoods in France.
Delinquency, riots, religion and terrorism, it seems that from one side of the ghetto to another, there is no mutual understanding. The gap is widening inexorably.
It's a situation that has potential for danger and one that has had numerous incidents of violence since 1982.
The terrorist attacks of 2015 added a lot of fuel to the fire, distilling a growing doubt about the loyalty of muslims in impoverished neighbors to the French state.
I went to make "Voices From The Hood" to meet the resident of Mirail, to understand what they really had in their hearts and what they weren't necessarily saying to the media. I believed, and still believe, that if we don't manage to get along, this social conflict will end in drama.
This is not a film about France's "impoverished neighborhoods", but a documentary that puts forth an authentic voice, achieved through time and confidence. Sometimes direct and abrupt, or even disconcerting and shocking, this exchange is necessary to sow the seed for a larger dialogue.
It's a matter of learning to understand one another in order to resist the temptation of rejecting the other.
