GOETHE FILMS looks at the refugee crisis (& #WIN)

A controversial and at the same time touching European drama following the intertwined stories of a Spanish border officer, a German tourist, and a group of Congolese refugees in the Spanish island paradise of the Canary Islands.
TIFF2011 World Premiere
"A muscular, moving thriller with a three-sided perspective on the moral complexities of immigration." - Variety

Closing night film & panel discussion:
Mar 10, 6.30pm: “Transit Camp Friedland” (2015)
For many refugees who manage to reach Germany, arrival at the Friedland reception camp is the beginning of a new life. Award-winning documentary filmmaker Frauke Sandig accompanies refugees from Syria, Eritrea, Afghanistan and Pakistan during their stay at the camp and interweaves their stories with the experiences of post-war German refugees for whom Friedland was a stepping stone into an uncertain future.

Followed by a panel discussion on the current international refugee crisis and its reflections in arts and culture:

• Marcelle Aleid is a Syrian refugee living in Canada, a writer, filmmaker and programmer. She was formerly the Project Director of Bidaya Media in the UAE launching the new Arabic Sesame Street "Iftah Ya Simsim", and the Deputy Director of the Abu Dhabi Film Commission.
  
  
• Kamal Al-Solaylee is an associate professor of Journalism at Ryerson University and a former theatre critic for the Globe and Mail. He was born in Yemen, raised in Lebanon and Egypt and received his PhD in English Literature from Nottingham University in England. His first book, Intolerable: A Memoir of Extremes, won the Toronto Book Award and was a finalist for Canada Reads and the Hilary Weston Writers' Trust Prize for Nonfiction. His next book on the intersections of race, global migration and skin colour will be out in early May.
  
  
• Affan Chowdhry is the Globe's multimedia reporter specializing in foreign news. He has been covering the recent arrival of Syrian refugees to Canada. Prior to joining the Globe, he worked at the BBC World Service in London.
  
  
• Ratna Omidvar is the founding Executive Director of Global Diversity Exchange at Ryerson University. She is an internationally recognized expert on migration, diversity, integration and inclusion and is Chair of Lifeline Syria and co-author of Flight and Freedom: Stories of Escape to Canada (2015). In 2014, Ratna received the Cross of the Order of Merit of Germany in recognition of her contribution to the advancement of German-Canadian relations. She is also both a Member of the Order of Canada and Order of Ontario.
  

GOETHE FILMS screen at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, 350 King St W, Toronto
with English subtitles. Open to audiences 18+
Tickets $10, day-of sales only at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, open at 10am, in person or by phone 1-888-599-8433

by Jutta Brendemühl