The Refugee Crisis through the Eyes of Documentarists

director: Ivo Bystřičan, Michal Pavlásek, Apolena Rychlíková, Robin Kvapil

original title: Uprchlická krize očima dokumentaristů

running time: 120 min.

synopsis

People who have been forced to leave their homes and set out on a tortuous journey for a better life are met with razor wire, police, bureaucratic bullying and xenophobia, but also encounter the dedication and solidarity of volunteers. Michal Pavlásek presents raw material that confronts the public with various stereotypes about refugees. Robin Kvapil filmed volunteers acting as substitutes for their failing state institutions and humanitarian organisations on the Serbian/Croatian border. Apolena Rychlíková addresses the grass-roots organisations and the actions of effective communities across the country, presenting personal testimonies of the refugees themselves. Ivo Bystřičan shows viewers the first fresh images from Erbil in Iraq, where dozens of Christians are hiding in improvised refugee camps and waiting for help from the West or doom of so cold Islamic State. After the presentations of their works in progress, the filmmakers will discuss them with the audience.

Next Station: Fortress Europe
Director: Michal Pavlásek
Cinematographer: Michal Pavlásek
Producer: Petr Kubica, Czech Television

Collision – Crisis – Solidarity, or Effective Community
Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Producer: Apolena Rychlíková

The Journey Can Be The Goal
Director, Cinematographer, Editor: Robin Kvapil
Producer: Petr Kubica, Czech Television

Talafant‘s List
Director, Cinematographer, Editor: Ivo Bystřičan
Photography: Jakub Halousek