MFDB

Storyline

There are one million Afghan refugees living in Peshawar, just inside the Pakistani border.Many of them came here in October 2001,when the Americans began bombing their country. Michael Winterbottom’s semi documentary film was shot using a digital camera at original locations; it tells the story of two such refugees. Jamal and Enayat are cousins. Jamal, the younger of the two, is an orphan; he lives in a refugee camp and spends his days working at a brickworks. Enayat sells electrical goods on his father’s market stall. He is to be sent to England to have a shot at a better way of life. Thanks to his powers of persuasion and his knowledge of English, Jamal is allowed to accompany his cousin on his journey. Their route, which has been planned by professional people traffickers, is by land. Although the journey overland may be more exhausting and more dangerous, it is also considerably cheaper. After an initial attempt fails, they eventually manage to cross the border from Pakistan into Iran hidden on buses and lorries; from Teheran they travel through Kurd country on foot and over the mountains into Turkey.Theirs is an old smugglers’ route; once part of the “Silk Road”, it is still used to smuggle car parts, oil, opium and tobacco to the West.The two boys arrive in Istanbul, where a whole new world opens up before them and they find jobs working in a metalwork factory. The next leg of their journey is by ship; locked away inside a freighter together with a family of Kurds and other émigrés, they reach Italy – forty hours later. But the heat and lack of oxygen have taken their toll. When the container is finally opened, many of the refugees are dead, including one of the two boys, who did not survive the rigours of the journey...

Festivals & Academy awards and others

San Sebastián International Film Festival 2006
Emigrants
Berlin International Film Festival 2003
Competition
Golden Bear / Ecumenical Jury Prize / Peace Film Prize

Releases

Spain (24 of September 2003)
Germany (18 of September 2003)
United kingdom (28 of March 2003)