DÉLITS MINEURS

MINOR OFFENCE

By Nicole BORGEAT

ALVA FILM - as PROD

Female director - Completed 2023

Lock up or trust?

Festivals
& Awards

Swiss Perform Awards 2024
Newcomer Prize for Stéphane Erös
Swiss Perform Awards 2024
Best supporting role for Arcadi Radeff
    • Year of production
    • 2023
    • Genres
    • Female director, Social issues, TV Series
    • Countries
    • SWITZERLAND, BELGIUM
    • Languages
    • FRENCH
    • Director(s)
    • Nicole BORGEAT
    • Writer(s)
    • Nicole BORGEAT, Jacqueline SURCHAT, Marco RIVARD
    • Producer(s)
    • Britta RINDELAUB (Alva Film), Thomas REICHLIN (Alva Film)
    • Synopsis
    • Geneva Juvenile Court. A warm-hearted judge, Gabrielle, an unorthodox social worker, Anaïs, and an uncompromising police inspector, Kadi, have very different methods in their dealings with juvenile delinquents.

      When a robbery goes wrong, Marek, a teenager who is already in the care of the juvenile court, is soon identified and arrested. At the preliminary hearing his mother suddenly announces that she is renouncing her parental rights ; she no longer wants anything to do with her son, who is becoming as violent as his drug-dealing father. Marek is shocked and refuses to cooperate. The judge, Gabrielle, has no choice but to remand him in custody. Kadi believes Marek has something to do with the disappearance of a girl called Elena, who has no known links to crime ; Kadi resolves to investigate on her own.

      Marek is now behind bars, feeling abandoned by everyone : he withdraws into silence. When Gabrielle asks Anaïs take on Marek’s case, she accepts this challenging task and works tirelessly to give the youngster back a sense of hope.

      Gabrielle hopes the investigation will reveal mitigating factors and get Marek out of prison, so she urges Kadi and her colleague Ben to press on with their work. But when Elena’s body is discovered near the warehouse Marek broke into, the case takes on a new complexity. And then Sébastien Monney, a conservative politician, announces in public that the murderer, Marek, is already behind bars... even though Monney’s own son Nathan also seems to be connected to the whole affair.

      Who killed Elena? The politician’s son? Marek? A different young man who is also visible in the CCTV footage of the robbery? What was the victim hiding? Are other members of her family somehow involved, too? The investigation becomes more intricate and far-reaching, and the unprecedented gravity of this case will force Gabrielle, Anaïs and Kadi to take risks and make decisions with crucial implications for young people and society, underpinned by the essential issue : should troubled youngsters be locked up or encouraged to embrace their own destinies?