CHILDREN OF SPRING

“We didn't know that our individual fates would end up providing the material for a film.“ For these roughly twenty Syrians the sea of housetops in Berlin comes to represent the ominous waters between Turkey and Greece whilst the viewer comes to feel a close connection with these individuals, as they exchange their experiences of flight, as well as their fears, needs and hopes for the future. Would I be able to swim were the boat to spring a leak? What does he/she who is unable to swim do on a sinking life raft in the middle of the Mediterranean?

In this self-assured work Ahmad Alkurdis guides the viewer through the film, this is his story. Director Dušan Solomun interweaves this experimental re-enactment of Alkurdi's story with the narrator's mobile phone footage, poetic reflections on identity, dignity and humanity as well as a soundtrack, the latter giving greater depth to the film's imagery, even during the moments when the protagonists remain silent. The result is a fascinating yet emotional film, which gives voice to the featured refugees' destinies. RH