Documentary lays bare the flight of an African migrant
Tabea Goppelt
September 21, 2018
A Paris-based Ivorian refugee retraced the dangerous route he took through Africa to escape civil war and produced Revenir, eye-opening documentary screened at the African Film Festival in Cologne.
On the road without documents can be dangerousImage: David Fedele
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Their paths first crossed in Morocco: Kumut Imesh, an Ivorian refugee, and David Fedele, an Australian filmmaker. Fedele needed a Bambara and French translator for a project and was introduced to Imesh.
"So this is where the original spark of the idea came," said Fedele. Three years later, their cinematic collaboration –Revenir(The Return) – was released. The documentary is based on the story of Imesh, who fled civil war in the Ivory Coast in 2004, making his way to Morocco and later on to France. In the film,he returns to Africa to retrace his escape route, only now equipped with a camera and the support of Fedele.
Revenir was featured at the2018 Africa Film Festival in Cologne, which runs until September 23.
12 important films about refugees
Ai Weiwei's documentary covers the global phenomenon of refugee flows, but many other films have previously tackled the issue as well.
Image: 2017 Human Flow UG
40 refugee camps, 23 countries: Human Flow
Ai Weiwei's documentary Human Flow presents the problem in a globalized context. The Chinese artist aims to draw attention to the refugees' plight, and generate compassion for them. His documentary premiered at the Venice Film Festival and is now released in Germany.
Image: 2017 Human Flow UG
Swiss perspective: The Boat is Full
The title of the film The Boat is Full (1980) has become idiomatic. In this movie, Swiss director Markus Imhoof depicted the fate of six people who had fled from the Nazi regime. At the time, films about refugees were typically set in the context of a historical conflict.
Image: picture-alliance/Everett Collection/Libra Films
African conflicts: Hotel Rwanda
Many European films featuring refugees describe the fate of people fleeing to Europe. In comparison, there are way less movies set in Africa, dealing with the causes of flight and migration. In Hotel Rwanda (2004), director Terry George from Northern Ireland focuses on an episode of the Rwandan genocide from 1994.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Tobis Film
Border conflicts: Riverbanks
Two years ago, Greek director Panos Karkanevatos shocked audiences with his film Riverbanks. Here, refugees taking off from Turkey with the aim of reaching Greece have to face several problems at once at the border river Evros. Smugglers exploit their situation, and the region has been mined during earlier conflicts between Turkey and Greece.
Image: Real Fiction
Flight to England: Welcome
The French film Welcome (2009), by director Philippe Lioret, focuses on the fate of an Iraqi-Kurdish boy who wants to cross the Channel to Britain. Another character in the film is a French swimming teacher who supports the boy. It's a moving drama on humanity and friendship.
Image: arsenalfilm.de
The Kaurismäki touch: Le Havre
Like his colleague Philippe Lioret, Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki tells the story of a refugee boy trying to get from France to Britain. In Le Havre (2001), Idrissa from Gabon makes the acquaintance of an older and unsuccessful writer. And like in Welcome, the film depicts how a relation develops between the man and the boy.
Image: Sputnik Oy/Marja-Leena Hukkanen
Another Kaurismäki: The Other Side of Hope
In 2017, the Finnish director moved his audiences once again with a heartwarming film on the same topic. The Other Side of Hope premiered at the Berlinale. The protagonist is a Syrian refugee stranded in Helsinki. In scenes showing an encounter between Khaled and textile merchant Waldemar, the film showcases Kaurismäki's typical bizarre sense of humor.
Image: Sputnik Oy
A comedy: Willkommen bei den Hartmanns
Last year, German director Simon Verhoeven daringly approached the difficult topic with a satirical touch. His comedy turned out to be a hit in the country dealing with a strong influx of refugees. Willkommen bei den Hartmanns (Welcome to the Hartmanns') tells the story of a German family which has welcomed a refugee in their home.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Warner Bros. Ent.
When young and old meet: Nightshapes
Long before the current debates about the refugee crisis emerged, German director Andreas Dresen shot his film Nightshapes in 1999. It's all about a German businessman encountering a young refugee boy from Angola in Berlin. The latter immediately starts to cling to the old man, initiating an unusual friendship.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Peter Rommel Film
From one conflict zone to the next: Dheepan
Two years ago, French director Jacques Audiard was awarded a Palme d'Or in Cannes for his refugee drama Dheepan. It tells the story of a family from Sri Lanka that has found a new home in France, in a rough Parisian suburban housing project. The refugees face another type of conflicts in their new home.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Why Not Productions
Welcome to Europe: Mediterranea
The film Mediterranea from 2015 shows what two African refugees have to go through shortly after their arrival in Europe. American-Italian director Jonas Carpignano depicts the fate of two friends, Ayiva and Abas from Burkina Faso, who made it to southern Italy, where they face more hostility and violence.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/DCM
A disastrous reality: Fire at Sea
Last year, Italian director Gianfranco Rosi shocked viewers at the Berlinale with his documentary Fire at Sea. The winner of the Golden Bear depicted the fate of refugees fleeing across the Mediterranean to Europe. Some of them die along the way. Although Ai Weiwei's Human Flow is more ambitious in its expanse, critics found this documentary more convincing.
Image: 21 Uno Film/Weltkino Filmverleih
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A new perspective on migration
"The key message was to publish the reality of asylum seekers when they are forced to flee and to run away from their country," said Imesh.
In the film he talks to migrants he encounters as he travels through Senegal, Togo and Ghana.
"I thought that this was a way to tell a new story. To tell it from a new perspective, and even more importantly, from the perspective of somebody on the inside, who was forced to make this journey himself," said Fedele.
The movie is largely without music or special effects. "We are not telling anybody how they should think or how they should feel. It's just a raw document of life on the road trying to show it in its reality,” he said.
Ivorian Kumut Imesh filmed the route he set out on as a refugee in 2004Image: Kumut Imesh
Hard journey to Europe
Imesh said he wanted to highlight the realities of migration, not only for the benefit of Africans. Not everyone understands that refugees and asylum seekers who make the journey abroad don't do so by choice, or appreciates how hard the journey to Europe actually is.
"We are not telling them to stay or to move, but we are just telling them: This is the reality. If you want to move or stay, you have to take it into account," he said.
Imesh fled from one country to the next until he arrived in Marocco. He spent seven years in the North African country before he was granted asylum in France.
"If you fail, it is a death," Imesh said of the route through the Sahara. Migrants who make the crossing have a 50 percent chance of survival.
In the making of Revenir, he didn't reach the desert – on his way to Agadez in Niger was arrested and had to turn back.
Imesh was disappointed – had wanted to film along the desert stretch. But the camera he was carrying was a problem: The people smuggler feared being exposed.
It had taken three months to get to Agadez. Fedele remained behind in Marocco as an emergency contact.
"It was a risky experiment. But now Kumut returned safely, we are together. We are able to travel the world to show the films. So, in other ways it shows it was a risk worth taking,” he said.
David Fedele is an Australian filmmaker. He spents most of his time between Africa and Europe to make his documentaries Image: Mankika Kranjec
Open doors
The two have toured the world with Revenir, which brought audiences a new reality. There also met refugees who saw the film as a reflection of their own story in a new way, said Fedele.
Imesh did not reach his destination in filming Revenir, but the Paris-based he wants to continue making films and work towards the integration of asylum seekers and refugees through his organization he foundedm Actions of Solidarity for Refugees (ASCORE).
"This idea of closing doors, closing borders to people who desperately need assistance, is something that we both will continue to fight for: Not just freedom of movement, but also open doors for people who are forced to flee their countries," said Fedele.
The Australian filmmaker tackles cultural and social problems from around the world in award-winning documentaries, which can be viewed online for free.
