Documentary Competition # 10

14. Internationales Festival Zeichen der Nacht / Signes de Nuit

Flower of a Thousand Colours
Flower of a Thousand

Karen Vazquez
Guadarrama, Belgium
2015 | 0:23:00

Flor de Mil Colores is an intimate portrait of Emiliana, a single mother who is trying to survive in a remote Bolivian mining camp at 4897 meters above sea level. Emiliana lives there with her children in the middle of the paradise like mountains of Mina Argentina. But appearances are deceptive: the life in the camp is fierce. Those who find tin eat, does who don’t, don’t eat. And by excessive alcohol consumption Emiliana is constantly wary of the dangers surrounding her family.

The Land Between

Davide Fedele
Australia
2014 | 1:18:00

Hundreds of Sub-Saharan African migrants live and hide in the Gourougou Mountains of Northern Morocco, outside of organised trafficking and smuggling networks.
For most migrants living in Gourougou, their dream is to enter Melilla, an autonomous Spanish city, a European enclave on the African continent, located on the Northern coast of Morocco. The two continents are separated by a barrier built and funded by Spain and the European Union, which was constructed for the sole purpose of keeping African migrants out of Europe. The European Union pays Morocco millions of Euro to control this border and the surrounding forest areas, and to regulate migration.
"THE LAND BETWEEN" is an intimate, yet explosive portrait of life in the Gourougou Mountains, and follows the daily lives of migrants as they dream of jumping the fence to Europe and entering the migrant camp in Melilla. It also documents the extreme violence and mistreatment around the border areas by both the Moroccan and Spanish authorities, which migrants must endure on a daily basis.
With unique and unprecedented access, this film explores many universal questions, including how and why people are willing to risk everything, including their life, to leave their country, their family and friends, in search of a new and better life.