Canal Emploi

Noël N’Tunda is forty-two. Born in Rwanda, he has lived in Belgium since he was twelve, on a welfare allowance that is just enough to live on. His days are all alike: chance meetings in bars, appointments with social workers. Noël shows the places he passes every day and tells of those that shaped his life, and Rob Rombout follows him with direct questions. Noël answers with humour: “There is an ocean between what I expected from life and what I have become.” The film moves between past and present. And also: “If I could afford it… I would go swimming.”

Roger Vandermeiren is a union delegate at Monsanto, a factory near Antwerp. When he defends a colleague accused of stealing documents, he is dismissed. A seven-week strike does not save his job. During six months of legal proceedings he goes on working as a delegate from a caravan at the factory gate, until a court confirms his dismissal. The film follows the case step by step, with library footage and his own account.