Every year, thousands of migrants face kidnap, rape and murder in Mexico. Driven by grinding poverty and insecurity back home, they travel through Mexico in hope of reaching the USA with its promise of a better life. But all too often their dreams are turned to nightmares. Told over four parts, The Invisibles exposes the truth behind one of the most dangerous journeys in the world and reveals the untold stories of the people who make the journey north through Mexico.
Produced by Amnesty International.
After a 10 day clandestine journey to flee their country, a young couple find asylum in Belgium. Then comes the hope of starting a new life, facing social constraints.
A short documentary about three friends who are caught between enemy lines at the Gaza border on the first day of the "summer war". While rockets are falling, we experience with them what it means when all certainties in life are lost and war becomes a new form of normality.
A few months ago Warda, Mohammed and Javid fled Syria and Afghanistan in order to reach Germany, Denmark or Sweden. From their devastated countries, the threshold of Europe is an important moment for these three people. Odysseys is a snap-shot of Lesbos Island, Greece, when migrants arrive aftertransit through Turkey. For those not washed up, Police will jail them for a fews days. During this time, the authorities will deliver, or not, a 30 days permit to stay on Greek territory. To compensate the lack of administrative structure to host the migrants, the inhabitants of Lesbos set up solidarity initiatives. Odysseys shows us the hiden face of migration.
At a border crossing point, Paula and Kaney meet each other and this will be the starting point of this dramatic story, full of fear, violence and redemption. Two characters, an African child and a Spanish woman, who should have nothing in common, get to join their lives forever through a life-giving shot. Kaney lives with many child soldiers and obeys the orders given by the man who has become like their father, the General of the Rebel Army.
2014 Oscar nominee: Best Short Film
Domé, a 35-year-old woman from Gabon, is arrested at the airport in Brussels. There seems to be a problem with her papers. After being subject to a long interrogation process, the police accuse her of forgery. Will she achieve her goal and be allowed into Belgian territory?
A film about Foad, who lives in a coastal town in Morocco. He makes his living from all sorts of odd jobs to survive. Many refugees from all over Africa gather in this seaside town, and pay a lot of money to get to Europe in a boat. Foad sees a business opportunity in the refugee boats.
A Syrian refugee camp at the Turkish border: the children were handed a small camera to find new ways to discover their new environment and present themselves. The film was accepted by the Short Film Corner at the 2014Cannes Festival.
A story about the eternal human search for home – "Hollow Land" begins, as all such searches must, with the dream of utopia. Solomon and Berta are two seekers who arrive – their treasured bathtub improbably in tow – in a land that promises respite from their many journeys. From the first optimistic moments after their arrival, to the film's final haunting scene at sea, "Hollow Land" captures the state of being displaced – whether by circumstance or by choice.
In 2010, Abu Eyad and other young Palestinian men from the Ain el-Helweh refugee camp in Lebanon travelled with smugglers through Syria and Turkey into Greece. Like so many other migrants, they came looking for a way into Europe but found themselves trapped in a country undergoing economic, political, and social collapse.
Most of the over ten thousand migrants who stayed at Casa del Migrante last year are from Central America, particularly Honduras. To arrive there, they hop trains north through Mexico, in what many described as a harrowing ride. Casa del Migrante seeks to give migrants a place to feel human before they continue their journey, if only for a few days. Director of the safe house Father Francisco Pellizari says "The migrant is Mr. Nobody for society. He is completely anonymous."
Founded in Tijuana in 1990 by Mexico’s Interior Ministry, Grupo Beta attempts to inform migrants determined to reach the United States of the risks they face when they travel north. A man from Guatemala is robbed along Mexico’s southern border; a Mexican boy is forced to voluntarily leave by U.S. immigration authorities and lands penniless in Nogales; a Honduran woman is beaten, raped and abandoned by the guide she paid to help her reach Phoenix. Injured, marginalized, scared, humiliated and exhausted, these are some of the human beings you will meet at a Grupo Beta field office.
An irregular migrant woman from Eastern Europe leaves her daughter behind and comes to the United Kingdom to find work. Without the right to stay in the country, the woman gets involved in an underground world of immigrants and is exploited by the British employers. From here on the story goes from bad to worse. The themes of the film are sacrifice, disillusionment and isolation.
Mark is ordered to serve at a desolated frontier post in the middle of a vast woodland. Only those with travel permits are allowed to pass through the barrier guarded by Mark and his Superior. A young couple with a child arrives at the border. The husband is missing a travel permit for himself and the child but refuses to allow his wife to travel alone. He tries to convince Mark to turn a blind eye and let them all through but to no avail. As a last resource they decide to camp at the barrier.
Carl, a young eager border cop is anxious to finish work so he can watch the big football match against Austria. Getting annoyed with his partner, Franz (whos nearing retirement and likes to take his time), his plans are thwarted by the discovery of a suicide victim in the woods just near the Austrian border. The wily Franz realises that this is an opportunity for a bit of fun with his younger colleague, and sets about instructing him in how to make the body the Austrians’ problem. It all seems to work out well, except maybe the Austrians have seen this body before.
When the Villawood Refugee Hostel is transformed into the Villawood Detention Centre, new arrival Virak must choose between his family and freedom.
Hark is about a man who is confronted with a moral dilemma to save his own life or risk the life of another. The characters in Hark are ordinary people making the choices necessary to survive. The story draws attention to the harsh reality of human trafficking and shines light where there is darkness.
An Argentinean immigrant living illegally for nearly half his life in Luxembourg must struggle daily for survival. Inspired partly by a quote from the late American auteur Orson Welles, the film depicts a loner who must fight his way out of the illusion that no one else exists around him. Based on a true story.
During the crossing of the sea Younes loses his brother. When he arrives in Italy he searches for ways to repay him.
Every day, about 800 people from Central America are smuggled into Mexican territory. Travelling on the roofs of freight trains that cross Mexico from south to north, their illegal status makes them more vulnerable to the risks of falling, plus abuse from the police and organized crime including kidnapping, torture, rape and murder. They flee poverty, insecurity and violence in their countries of origin – Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua – taking with them only the hope of a new but uncertain life in the United States.