World Refugee Day: Powerful movies that represent the refugee experience
In the last few years, the global refugee crisis has reached a record high worldwide, surpassing 100 million for the first time ever.
Understanding the plight of refugees has now become more important than ever.
On World Refugee Day, we have put together a list of must-see films that offer an insight into the struggles and lives of refugees through powerful tales of survival.
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For Sama
This feature documentary tells the intimate and epic journey of motherhood during the bombings of the Syrian Civil War. Directed by award-winning filmmakers, Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts, the film explores the themes of love, resilience and hope in the light of suffering and harsh dilemmas.
A self-shot film that shows how Waad wrestles with an impossible choice – whether or not to flee the city to protect her daughter's life when leaving means abandoning the struggle for freedom for which she has already sacrificed so much.
FLEE
In FLEE, Amin Nawabi's struggles to deal with a traumatic truth that he has kept hidden for 20 years and which now threatens to destroy the life he has created for himself and his soon-to-be husband.
He narrates the story of his incredible experience as an Afghan refugee youngster for the first time, primarily through animation, to director Jonas Poher Rasmussen.
Limbo
Limbo is an emotional story of a young Syrian musician and other refugees awaiting the answers to their requests for asylum on a remote Scottish island.
The film directed by Ben Shamrock, received many accolades, including a nomination for Outstanding British Film at the BAFTAs.
Hotel Rwanda
The true story of a man who stood up to the atrocities in Rwanda and offered his hotel as a shelter for thousands of refugees. Over one million people were brutally murdered in three months, but this man saved lives one at a time.
Midnight Traveller
When the Taliban puts a bounty on Hassan Fazili's head, he is forced to flee with his wife and two daughters.
Capturing the three-year, 3,500-mile journey entirely on three mobile phones, Fazili shows the dangers facing refugees seeking asylum and the love shared between a family on the run.
Manus
This multi-award-winning documentary is a very poetic film that offers raw insight into the hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers held offshore by the Australian Federal Government on Manus Island.
The starkness of its black-and-white shots focuses very intimately on the people so that we can hear their stories directly.
A Road to Oxford
An English literature Professor Rawan found a new home in Oxford, UK, after fleeing Syria in 2018.
He shows us around the city in this brief film while thinking back on the mental and emotional journey that took him there.
At one point, he says, "On my second day in Oxford, I went on a walk and I felt stunned by the rich history of the city. I yearned to reside here because I felt so a part of the community."
Human flow
Ai Weiwei, a filmmaker, investigates the refugee crisis' harrowing scope and its profoundly individual human effects.
Weiwei follows a string of compelling human stories that span the world over the course of a year in 23 nations, including Afghanistan, France, Greece, Germany, and Iraq.
The refugee experience is often an account of desperation and struggle. Even in unimaginable circumstances, these stories explore overcoming, resilience and hope.
By shedding light on the story of people living in the most difficult situation, the World Refugee Day aims to foster a more empathetic and inclusive world for refugees.
