by Carin Goeijers
The Netherlands, 55’, 2018 | IDFA special Jurt Award, Krakow FF

Η ταινία λαμβάνει μέρος στο Riace, ένα χωριό στη νότια Ιταλία. Για χρόνια, το Riace ήταν ερειπωμένο μέχρι που ο δήμαρχος κάλεσε τους νεοφερμένους μετανάστες/πρόσφυγες να ζήσουν εκεί. Λόγω των πολιτικών αλλαγών, η περιφερειακή κυβέρνηση σταμάτησε τη ροή των χρημάτων στο χωριό. Η ταινία παρουσιάζει μια ποιητική ιστορία για την ελπίδα και την πίστη.

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The unyielding way in which the mayor of Riace, a village in the Calabria region of south Italy, generously took in refugees was long viewed as a success story. In one fell swoop, he solved the village’s two-fold problem of an aging population and the exodus of young people. It had been looking like Riace would go the same way as many other small rural communities and become a ghost town. But the newcomers really livened things up—until, that is, the political tide turned and the subsidies for Riace’s refugee policy dried up. The result was chaos and confusion. Many of the refugees, including 26-year-old Becky Moses from Nigeria, had to leave. Her relocation to a reception camp elsewhere in the region has fatal consequences.