On a grandi ensemble

In Ivry sur Seine, in the Parisian suburbs, the Gagarin housing estate was a symbol. Destroyed in 2020, this film brings it back to life, through the eyes of Adnane Tragha, who grew up across the street, and through the words of its former inhabitants. Back in the deserted city, they evoke their memories of the place. Daniel, Loïc, Karima, Yvette, Foued, Samira and Mehdy tell us about their lives, their experiences and their feelings. The difficulties as well as the solidarity, the stigmatization as well as the mutual aid, the good memories as well as the bad. Crossing temporalities and experiences, “We grew up together” paints, through small subjective touches, the story of a city like so many others. This film is a “counter-history”, the rehabilitation of a word that is too rare, a hymn to working-class neighborhoods. “At the same time documentary, fiction, archival work, We grew up together is multifaceted, like the city.