Director´s Statement:

I have directed over 30 documentary films, mostly on international social issues. What strikes me nowadays is the widespread talk of “fatigue” regarding social crises worldwide. This may be a by-product of abundance and confortable life in Western societies, who have not experienced any major war in their own soil for more than a generation. I do not recall talk of fatigue during the Spanish Civil War or the fight against Hitler.

So when I see millions of people having their lives shattered in Syria while the world does little to solve the problem, I get frustrated. Indifference kills. I am not a soldier, so I don´t use weapons. I am not a medical doctor, so I can´t save lives.

But I am a filmmaker and do have a camera and a laptop computer, as well as experience in fleshing out compelling testimonies in foreign lands, as I did for instance in my documentary Behind the Veil, on women´s resistance against fundamentalist rule in Afghanistan.

So I decided to make a film on Syrian refugees as a way to raise awareness of the issue and fight widespread indifference, which for many refugees is even scarier than bullets or bombs. If you are forgotten, you have no hope.

I went to Northern Iraq to show the reality in a place where few people have shot. There, I talked to some young refugees and sensed their urgency to show their situation to the world. So I took the chance of training them and having them as my filming crew there. The results were amazing. Their commitment brought about compelling real life characters who talked about sensitive personal issues and exposed their inner anxieties.

Nine out of ten war victims today are civilians. This film is an artistic statement against indifference of the suffering of millions, a non-partisan call for humanity and compassion.