Flow Mechanics

The European border police makes every effort to control the continuous flow of refugees. But every time a fence is erected in one place, a truck full of stowaways crosses the border elsewhere. Director Nathalie Loubeyre observed how refugees search for a safe haven at Europe’s external borders and recorded their stories.

When looking up the term ‘flow mechanics’ on the Internet, one finds theories of physics explaining how liquids behave in motion. This film shows that people don’t behave all that different when they are exposed to external forces. Refugees find their way in much the same way as liquids: if they cannot cross a fence, they hide under a truck. The flow is seemingly unstoppable.

Director Nathalie Loubeyre went to Europe’s periphery to see how refugees try to cross the border and walked along with the border police during their night patrols. Faced with the refugees’ determination to make their way into Europe, the over-stretched border guards stick to their work ethics: ‘I know these are Syrians who flee the war, but I’m just doing my job.’