THE ULYSSES

THE ULYSSES from Alberto García on Vimeo.

Every year, thousands of people from all over the world, afflicted by economic, social and political hardship, try to enter Europe in an attempt to attain better living standards. One of the least known routes is the one made by citizens of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, who fly from their countries to Africa, and cross, in the hands of people smugglers, the deserts of Mauritania, Algeria and Morocco in subhuman conditions; it is a hard and long trip to Europe for some, while others perish on the way.

After accomplishing this odyssey, our protagonists are taken to a European town outside the European borders: the city of Ceuta, a Spanish enclave in the north of Morocco. They are 37 Bangladeshi immigrants that, after staying more than 18 months in the Temporary Centre for Immigrants (CETI) of Ceuta and threatened by an imminent deportation, decide to escape to the nearby mountains where they set up a clandestine camp.

After 4 months of hard resistance in the mountains, and thanks to the help of human rights groups, the government gives in and they are sent to the Spanish mainland. Once in Madrid, the Bangladeshis face the reality of the dream they had been seeking for such a long time. At the same time, a group of 67 Indian citizens, from the same CETI and with the same vital background, follows their steps and flee to the same mountains in Ceuta where they set up another camp, hoping to have the same luck. But the political and economic situation has changed. Day by day, their situation gets worse and their future more uncertain.