For 10 weeks, young French film director Arnaud Jullien travelled through Europe to meet fellow Europeans. He spoke to people from all walks of life who share their opinions in front of his camera. The result: Europealive.

Since the abolishment of interstate border controls in the European Union, queues of cars stretching far down the road at customs have become a distant memory. For several years now, EU citizens have been enjoying the right "to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States" in keeping with Article 21 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

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Integration
However, Arnaud Jullien wonders whether the loosening up of international boundaries has indeed led to European integration. Have EU citizens really got to know one another better than before or are ingrained prejudices still affecting opinions? Has the "free movement of goods, persons and services" helped EU residents to reach a better understanding of who Europeans are?

In his 52-minute documentary film, Europalive, Mr Jullien explores the world of politics, culture and finance within the European community, interviewing people across all EU countries.

Artists, housewives, employees, executives, the homeless and jobless, pensioners and students all participate in this challenging project which Mr Jullien hopes will contribute to improving the way we communicate within Europe and the way we see one another.

Watch the trailer for Europalive:

Expatica interviews Arnaud Jullien:

What made you decide to make this film?
For my first documentary project, half a billion people and 27 countries seemed like a good start. More seriously, I feel concerned about peace and harmony in Europe. Our recent history teaches us that this equilibrium is fragile and we all need to play an active part in taking care of it. This film is my personal contribution and I hope it will allow more professionals to get interested in my work and projects.

Did the result surprise you?
The result was surprising in many aspects. It was amazing to visit as many as 24 countries within 10 weeks. I came back with 30 tapes of video content; I had to find volunteers to translate 140 interviews from 23 languages into English. The most surprising thing was to find so many people who were interested in participating in this project, from hosting me to guiding me and helping me out. I am very grateful and I hope everybody enjoys the result.

Arnaud Jullien
Did any European nationality stand out from the rest in their responses to your questions?
It's funny, I get this question all the time. It's really difficult for me to answer this one, since there are no good or bad answers to these questions. That said, I loved the Baltic countries - but it's more for personal reasons I guess.

On your journey you also met expatriates. Have you had any experience as an expatriate yourself?
I have been an 'early expatriate' and many expatriates have been part of my daily life for more than ten years. When I was 18, I went to live in Berlin. I hope I will have the opportunity to go and live or work there one day - great place and great people. After my university studies, back in France, I went to live in London for almost four years. Another great experience. My most recent 'second home' was Amsterdam. I stayed there for four years, and I still have lots of friends there. I love this place, it's like living in a village with all the advantages of living in a capital. You get to meet people from all around the planet. It's a wicked place, and a paradise for expatriates.

What are you going to do now?
I will create a website with all the interviews uncut, from every country, once I'm done with the broadcast part. Depending on how things work for this first project, I would definitely like to expand this concept to a TV/Web pan-European programme, broadcasting in all the EU countries. For that purpose, I have started to look for co-producers, and various partners, both institutional and private, to co-finance this future project. I am also working on several scripts, one for a TV series and two others for feature films. I hope Expatica's readers will enjoy this first episode and will follow up on the next ones.

For more Europalive episodes click here.