Mo
Mohammad is a young asylum seeker from Pakistan. To make a living, he works illegally as a night delivery worker. He strives for a better life in a city with no identity and future in store for him. Despite his limited income, Mohammad helps out the single mother and her young son from Africa. He spends his days with his compatriots looking for jobs and waiting for their application results, hoping indefinitely for a miracle. Marginalized and ostracized, they survive in cracks and crevices of the city, trembling with rage and despair, waiting for dawn to come.
Refuge(e)
Refuge(e) traces the incredible journey of two refugees, Alpha and Zeferino. Each fled violent threats to their lives in their home countries and presented themselves at the US border asking for political asylum, only to be incarcerated in a for-profit prison for months on end without having committed any crime. Thousands more like them can't tell their stories.
The Jump
In the Cold War years of the 1970s, an American patrol boat meets a Soviet ship off the east coast of the United States for talks about fishing rights in the Atlantic. In the midst of this, while Russian commanders are aboard the U.S. Coast Guard vessel where the talks are being held, a Lithuanian sailor jumps across the ten feet of icy water separating the boats. Crash-landing on the deck of the American ship, he desperately begs for asylum. Though they try, the Americans ultimately fail to provide protection and the Soviets are allowed to capture him and brutally return him to their vessel. Thus begins a stranger-than-fiction story of imprisonment, discovery, fame, and freedom. Through rare archival footage and a dramatic first-person re-enactment of that fateful day by Simas Kudirka, the would-be defector himself, this tale of one of the biggest Cold War muddles takes us on a journey of uncanny twists of fate, and the emotional sacrifices of becoming a universal symbol of freedom.
I Come Empty-handed
Rocky is a talented boxer, but is forced to quit boxing for being an asylum seeker. Rocky starts a new life when his coach tries to build him a career and life while staying afloat in Hong Kong. Helping with moving and volunteer work, he gets to know other tenants like Raja and Bitto and hears about their life stories. He realises that they have nothing left but he still has boxing - and that calling has never stopped.
Foreigners Out! Schlingensief's Container
FOREIGNERS OUT! SCHLINGENSIEFS CONTAINER is a thrilling, insightful, funny chronicle and reflection of one of he biggest public pranks and acts of art terrorism ever committed. Austria 2000: Right after the FPÖ under Jörg Haider had become part of the government, the first time an extreme right wing party became state officials after WW2, infamous German shock director Christoph Schlingensief showed a very unique form of protest. Realising public xenophobia and the new hate politics in the most drastic ways possible, he installed a public concentration camp right in the middle of Vienna's touristic heart, right beside the picturesque opera where hundreds of tourists and locals pass by daily. And it was no concentration camp you had ever feared to return from the old times, but one that cynically reflected our new multimedia culture. Satirising reality TV shows, "Big Brother" especially, a dozen asylum seekers were surveilled by a multitude of cameras, could be fed and watched by.
Cry Freedom
A dramatic story, based on actual events, about the friendship between two men struggling against apartheid in South Africa in the 1970s. Donald Woods is a white liberal journalist in South Africa who begins to follow the activities of Stephen Biko, a courageous and outspoken black anti-apartheid activist.
Asylum
Asylum is a poignant drama that unfolds the harrowing journey of Khadija Jallow and her daughter, Khawla, seeking asylum after a political coup in their home country, The Gambia. As Khadija recounts her story during an asylum interview, the narrative delves into the complexities of love, sacrifice, and the impact of political disruption on a family.
Parvaneh
Parvaneh is a young Afghan immigrant who recently arrived at a transit centre for asylum seekers in the Swiss Alps. The only things she has got to know yet are the rural area surrounding the centre and the centre itself.
Home
In every act of compassion, a foreign place becomes home.
Limbo
An offbeat observation of refugees waiting to be granted asylum on a fictional remote Scottish island. It focuses on Omar, a young Syrian musician who is burdened by the weight of his grandfather’s oud, which he has carried all the way from his homeland.
Dreamers
After living undocumented in the UK for two years, Nigerian migrant Isio is caught and sent to the Hatchworth Removal Centre. She hopes for a fair asylum hearing and is convinced that, as long as she strictly follows the rules, she will be released – even if her charismatic new roommate Farah tells her this is a naive mistake.
The Hearing
After crossing 11 countries irregularly to seek asylum in Canada, Peggy, Simon and their three children are waiting for the hearing that will determine whether they get refugee status or not. Having fled political repression in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the family tries to rebuild a peaceful life in Montreal, in spite of the constant threat of deportation. Between ghosts from the past, hopes for the future, a complex legal maze and seemingly endless trial, the film delves into the struggle of the Nkunga Mbala family to remain in Canada. Offering unprecedented access to their hearing before the Immigration and Refugee Board, the film unveils the opaque process of claiming asylum in Canada.
The New World
Mirte is a cleaner in the reception centre for asylum seekers at the airport. She tries to forget her past through routine. When the charismatic West African Luc is brought in, Mirte seems to get a grip on her life again. A film about loss, fleeing and love from an unexpected corner.
Someone's Trying to Get in
A Haitian asylum seeker flees an immigration camp, unknowingly approaching a house owned by a paranoid blue-collar worker.
Matar
The story of an asylum seeker in England who, when confronted with the hostile immigration system in the UK, is forced to live on the fringes of society and rely on his bike to survive. Based on the lived experience of co-writer Ayman Alhussein.
The Hearing
Four rejected asylum seekers relive the hearing on their reasons for fleeing their home countries, shedding light on the core of the asylum procedure. Will the interviewees be able to describe their traumatic experiences in a way that satisfies the official criteria?
The First Drop of Rain: Making MATAR
Follow the emotional journey of Hiba Noor, a talented artist forced to flee her home country, as she navigates a new life in London while awaiting her asylum fate. This film takes you on a journey into the production of MATAR, a short film about a fellow asylum seeker facing similar problems.
Ahmed's Story: Life in Limbo
The story of Ahmed Albarjo, a man living in Malta struggling to secure Refugee Status. Made in collaboration with Spark 15 and RAAH.
The Merger
A country football coach who has a plan to rebuild the local football team by recruiting recently settled asylum seekers.
No Time For Goodbye
The lives of two asylum seekers fleeing post-social unrest in their home city intertwine in Britain, starting a romance that tests their resilience and adversity.