Isolated, inventive 16-year-old Yuri (an astonishing performance from Bathily) has lived in Cité Gagarine – a vast red brick housing project on the outskirts of Paris – all his life. He dreams of becoming an astronaut, inspired by his and the Gagarine’s namesake: Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, seen in 1960s archive footage opening the complex in a more optimistic age.
But now the Gagarine is in disrepair and when plans to demolish it are leaked, Yuri joins with friends Diana and Houssam in an attempt to save it – in a stunning, magical turn, transforming the estate into his very own ‘starship’.