Island 36

In January 2012, an Iraqi asylum seeker committed suicide in his refugee residence in Würzburg, Germany. Asylum seekers from all over the country went to Berlin to protest against the country’s strict asylum laws, which place them in isolation. The protest entered a new phase in October 2012, with the setting up of an illegal tent camp at the Oranienplatz in Berlin’s Kreuzberg district. Asli Özarslan took her film crew into the camp to document the occupants’ struggle. Shooting with hand-held cameras, they observe the life of this motley collection of people from many countries, who are able to survive thanks to donations from sympathizers. She chooses the perspective of the sole female living in the camp: Napuli Paul Langa, an intelligent and outspoken young woman from Sudan. Like many others, she came to Europe in search of a better and safer life. The reality of it has left her displaced and homeless. Napuli is determined to focus attention on inhumane aspects of German asylum legislation, such as the ban on traveling, working and studying, and the requirement to remain in the asylum seekers’ detention center. Though Napuli and her companions encounter ignorance and opposition wherever they go, this doesn’t stop her from encouraging them and reminding them that they too have a right to an existence worthy of human dignity.