Return to Hansala

Synopsis

That morning, some corpses are washed ashore. A small boat has sunk leaving twelve corpses on the sand and who knows how many more at sea. Martín, a man about forty, owns a funeral home in Algeciras. He manages a newly set-up business and faces numerous financial and legal difficulties.
One of the deceased immigrants was a brother of Leila, a Moroccan girl who has lived in Spain for five years. She feels guilty for having given him the money to pay this trip. Now she will try to return the corpse of her brother to the natal village to give him a grave. The relationship between these two characters helps them to find a human side in one another which they had forgotten existed. They are two human beings wrapped in the million shells they have built for self-protection.
Said, a youngster from the village of just about 16, guides them around the area to show the victims’ clothes. One day Said disappears. He has left on a small boat for Spain and this “paradise” everyone wants to find.

Director's comment

RETURN TO HANSALA is a road movie that plunges us into the phenomenon of immigration through the eyes of its central characters – residing on both sides of the Strait of Gibraltar – and the spectrum of emotions, guiding us towards a ‘forgotten world’ in which we are able to rediscover ourselves. This is the raw story of a common tragedy wrapped in a veil of hope and romanticism. This is a nonconformist film for it stems from the outrage we feel every day when we witness acts of unfairness and injustice. It is also romantic. It shows the nature of human kind, its ability to love and to hope despite the utmost horrifying and devastating life experiences so it is necessary since it allows us to experience the true life of the dispossessed helping us become a little more human. From the narrative point of view, RETURN TO HANSALA is also a tale of travel. This is a physical journey filled with all sorts of events, taking Martín and Leila from Algeciras (Spain) to Hansala (Morocco) in a funerary van with Leila’s brother’s corpse in the back. It also describes the moral route taken by each leading character. Martín will discover a new reality and uncover an unsuspected and better side of him. Leila will delve into the strength of her past and redefine her future. Maybe, together, they will start a better life?
RETURN TO HANSALA stems from a short article published in a newspaper telling the story of a worker at the funeral home of Los Barrios. After a small boat sinks and one of the corpses is identified through a phone number, he travels to Morocco with the corpse and the clothes worn by the people who died in the wreck. The sister of the dead man believes many of the victims come from the same area and will be easily identified by their relatives from the clothes.
Our idea for this film is to mix fiction and reality and use everything that a village which has lived such a tragedy can offer as well as share its life and experiences. For this reason, some of our characters will be real people within a fictional structure.

Film Info

Project / Host