Fahim

The difficulties faced by refugee immigrants to France and their attempts to integrate into a new society serve as the backdrop to this affecting, based-on-real-life drama. Forced to flee their native Bangladesh, pre-teen chess obsessive Fahim Mohammad (Ahmed Assat) and his father arrive in the Parisian suburb of Créteil, where a new battle begins for them. While they await the approval of their political asylum application, they are under constant threat of deportation. Fahim joins the Créteil chess club and is taken under the wing of team coach Sylvain, a gruff, impressive, and very lively teacher (Gérard Depardieu, in a role tailor-made for the legend). What follows their first encounter strikes a touching balance between humour and drama as Fahim begins to climb the ranks in the under-12 category of tournament chess. Can he go all the way before the authorities deport him? (The real Fahim, now 20, is a FIDE master living in France.)