Foreign / Fremd

country, year

Germany, 2011

genre

documentary

running time

93′

directed by

Miriam Fassbender

language

French

subtitles

English

synopsis

On his way from south of the Sahara to the paradise of conceptions called Europe, Mohamed is constantly haunted by three questions: will I drown into the sea, will I get there, and will I be banished once I am there? Foreign follows the journey of the young man from Mali to the vantage point to Europe. One of the oldest routes to a better life runs through Algeria to Morocco and finally to Spain. The documentary gives face to migration across the Mediterranean. Mohamed, the first born of a family of seven, is sent travelling when the family has a need for a provider. The parents sell their cows to fund his way – turning back is not an option. On this years-long journey all sense of time disappears, and one’s worth as a human being is based solely on hope.

about the author

Starting auto didactically into the film business Miriam Fassbender worked as 2nd and 1st camera assistant for films such as, amongst others Shooting Dogs (Dir.: M.C. Jones), Zarins Story (Dir.: Shirin Neshat), Desert Flower (Dir.: Sh. Horman), BaderMeinhoffKomplex (Dir.: Uli Edel). In 2001 she took part on the summer course Cinematography at Tisch School of the Arts/New York University. From 2003 – 2005 she studied Cinematography at the FAMU in Prague. Since that time she has shot several feature length documentaries for cinema and television, including Im Garten by A. Bizer, Menschen in der Viktoriastadt by J. Kochs or Rolf Losansky – Verdammt bin ich erwaschen by D. Seume. Fremd is her first feature documentary as a director.