Day 5-Synopsis

Hope

Amal Basry, one of the seven survivors, tells the story of four hundred Iraqi asylum seekers who were pitched into the ocean in 2001 when their people-smuggling boat from Indonesia sank on its way to Australia.

Amal Basry watched “The Titanic” at a cinema in Baghdad the night before she fled Iraq. Eighteen months later, in October 2001, four hundred asylum seekers were pitched into the ocean when their people-smuggling boat from Indonesia sank on its way to Australia. Amal Basry was one of the seven survivors. In public, Amal became an advocate for the survivors. In private, she fought to reunite her fragmented family, cope with illness and the personal consequences of the disaster.

Language English and Arabic
Director & Producer Steve Thomas

Running (Berlari)

Captures the experiences of Burmese refugees in Malaysia

Running follows the plight of different individuals who ran away from their homes in Burma in the hopes of freedom and a better life. They are each a refugee, asylum seeker and/or stateless person. As they tell their stories, they delve into their difficult lives in Malaysia in search of stability and the hope of a better future that is denied to them in their home country. Their story represents the stories of many other refugees who are currently in Malaysia.

Language Malay-Chinese
By: Mien Lor

Shahed Shatila (Witness Shatila)

Looks at the situation of Palestinian refugees in Shatila camps, with a special focus on the work done by a group of students and artists with the youngster Palestinians.

The film looks at the situation of Palestinian refugees in Shatila Camps. A group of students and artists who visited the camps conducted art workshops with the youngster Palestinians.

Language Arabic
Director Nagy Ismail

Crossing the Dust

A five-year old boy named Sadam struggles to find his way home in post-American invasion Iraq.

During the American invasion of Iraq in 2003, a 5-year-old Arab boy gets lost. Two Pershmega (Kurdish resistance) soldiers, Rashid and Azad, who are fighting against Saddam Hussein’s troops, find the boy wandering around in the chaos which ensued after the war. Azad, who lost his brother in the horrific Anfal campaign against the Kurds in the north, intends to take the boy back to his family. When Rashid finds out that the boy’s name is Saddam, he wants no part in it. He would rather get on with delivering food to the other soldiers and begins to torment the boy. A fierce argument starts between the two men. They take the boy everywhere but are unable to find anybody who recognizes him. Rashid and Azad try to hand the boy over to the Americans but they refuse to take him. Even the aged mullah at the mosque doesn’t want to help. Then their car is stolen. But they find it abandoned later on. Meanwhile the boy’s parents are searching for him. The father is angry that they decided to call their son Saddam. He blames his wife for giving the boy a name which is now taboo and is determined to change it. Two militants, still loyal to Saddam, lure Rashid and Azad into deathtrap near to the boy’s home. Only Rashid survives. Left alone with the boy, he is forced to accept him after all.

Language Kurdish and Arabic
Director Shawkat Amin Korki

Slingshot Hip Hop

Young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank, and inside Israel employ Hip Hop as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty

Slingshot Hip Hop braids together the stories of young Palestinians living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel as they discover Hip Hop and employ it as a tool to surmount divisions imposed by occupation and poverty. From internal checkpoints and Separation Walls to gender norms and generational differences, this is the story of young people crossing the borders that separate them

Language Arabic, English, and Hebrew
Director Jackie Reem Salloum