Ten unemployed men and women talk about why and how they've decided to stop working. After a period of familiarity with the labour market, these men and women have turned away from factories, warehouses and offices, determined to reject the rules of the existing economic war. Far from the usual worried or depressed image of the unemployed these “unemployed people who don't ask for work” openly talk about their reasons for seeking fulfilment outside of the workplace, with little financial resources but plenty of time to spend on themselves

In a world where the economy is no longer at the service of mankind but precisely the opposite, productivity targets and management methods are pushing workers to the very limits of their endurance. Illness, industrial accidents and physical and psychological suffering are at unprecedented levels. The stories that men and women tell their doctor or psychologist, workplace inspectors and industrial tribunals show that there is an urgent need to rethink the way we work.

Yamina Benguigui turns her camera on a multi-ethnic region on the outskirts of Paris. These 'backyards' of Paris - suburban industrial ghettos filled with poor immigrants - are a breeding ground for social problems in the midst of an eclectic mix of conflicting cultures and identities.

Over the last twenty five years, Maghrebian immigrants living in France have brought their families to join them. Many of them lived in shanty towns before moving to working class suburbs. Their children were sent to school and grew up in France. Now their grandchildren cannot move forward, because they have lost their historical memory. This community of two million people, of whom a third have French nationality, are weighted down by double silence: the silence of their parents, and the silence of the public institutions. Mémoires d'immigrés, l'héritage maghrébin is an inside look at this community scattered throughout the four corners of French territory. Benguigui constructs her documentary by intercutting the personal and moving stories of three groups of interviewees: the fathers, the mothers, and the children.