GHFF2023 Swedish-Speaking Migrants of Paris / The Mind Game
Single tickets
The Swedish-Speaking Migrants of Paris (2023)
Directed by Emilio Di Stefano, 22 mins
UK Premiere
PLUS
The Mind Game (2023)
Directed by Sajid Khan Nasiri, Els van Driel, Eefje Blankevoort (61 mins)
UK Premiere
Video-on-demand watch window: Wednesday 06 December 19:00 GMT - Sunday 10 December 21:00 GMT
Passes and single tickets for films available on demand here!
The Swedish-Speaking Migrants of Paris (2023)
This film follows a group of young men who, after years living and working in Sweden, are denied right to remain and face deportation.
They move to France to seek a new life, and often end up on the streets or in run-down refugee accommodation, in limbo and facing a precarious and uncertain future.
The Mind Game (2023)
When he was just 15, Sajid Khan Nasiri (known as SK) fled Afghanistan alone. After a two-year journey filled with danger and hardships – minutely documented on his phone camera – he arrives in Belgium to seek asylum. There, a whole new struggle begins.
They call it ‘the game’: the life-threatening journey that thousands of unaccompanied minors undertake every year seeking protection in Western Europe. For SK, the game started after the Taliban killed his father. Via Iran and Turkey to Eastern Europe he progressed ever closer to his destination, hunted down by violent border police and hostile civilians. In clips recorded with his telephone camera, and in messages to filmmakers Eefje Blankevoort and Els van Driel, he keeps track of his progress.
SK has faith that once he gets to Europe, he’ll be able to settle, go to school, start a new life. But when he arrives in Belgium to seek asylum, a new game begins - 'the 'mind game'.
As a child, how do you deal with the enormous mental pressure of the journey, with distrustful authorities, and disturbing messages from the home front?
The Mind Game is an intimate sequel to the award-winning Shadow Game (UK Premiere GHFF2021) - and a powerful account of the psychological pressures young refugees face.
Panel discussion
The discussion after the screening was moderated by Ben Pickering, humanitarian and conflict advisor, and member of the Global Health Film Advisory Board. He was joined by Sheila Melzak, director of the Baobab Centre for Young Survivors in Exile, and by Emilio di Stefano via Zoom.