L'Histoire, le territoire 2019

Directed by Sophie Comtet Kouyaté

The Saint-Denis Canal cuts through the landscape on the outskirts of Saint-Denis and Aubervilliers, connecting both the towns and the people. Its banks invite one to take a detour and stray from the beaten path. This film takes us on a cross-cutting journey—a visual and sensory experience that immerses us in places whose boundaries remain ill-defined on today’s city map. It presents a strange tableau revealed in sequences: worn, dilapidated "no-man’s-lands" bordering neighborhoods and concrete plants. Further along, we encounter structured, developed spaces—areas already integrated into the contemporary city or currently under construction. It is a layering of human stories—tales of exile that have shaped the identity of these neighborhoods. This film is the first installment of the documentary series *Canal Saint-Denis, la bascule d’un paysage* (Canal Saint-Denis: A Landscape in Transition), in production since 2018.