Two phones, eleven chapters, infinite miles between home and hope.
In eleven chapters, we follow two Yazidi girls from Iraq who hope to find safety and a new life in Germany. We meet them the first time at Idomeni, a temporary camp in Greece on the border to North Macedonia. There they live close together. The mobile phones are always nearby, as the only link to the family and friends in Iraq. Yasir’s wife has been a prisoner of ISIS for a year and a half, but hope of reuniting is rekindled when he receives a message about a prisoner exchange between ISIS and YPG forces. David Aronowitsch’s masterfully portrayed Idomeni is a touching portrait of children and adults during a period of waiting, hope and the deep wounds that will never disappear.
Direction
Aronowitsch's patient, non-exploitative observation.
Editing
Eleven chapters that mirror endless bureaucratic limbo.
Director
David Aronowitsch
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Idomeni camp was Europe's largest informal refugee settlement in 2015-16, cleared by police in May 2016. The film captures its final months.
Aronowitsch spent years earning trust; the Yazidi community's trauma of sexual slavery by ISIS made filming women's stories nearly impossible, making these girls' perspectives rare and precious.
SE
