Those Who Feel the Fire Burning

Morgan Knibbe

The ghost of an old man who died crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe is now observing the disillusioned people who did make it to the continent alive. An unconventional, poetic documentary about the situation of  refugees on the borders of Europe.

The night is pitch-black, the sea stormy. Wild waves break on a little boat full of refugees. A girl laments that she does not want to go to Europe. Suddenly an old man falls overboard. In vain he tries to grab the saving hands. Coloured lightning flashes over a busy city seen from above. From that point on, the drowned man sees reality from another dimension.

Unconventional and poetic in form, Those Who Feel the Fire Burning documents a serious social problem: the hopeless situation of the refugees who manage to make the crossing alive. The seeking soul of the old man travels along the southern European border and dwells on many disillusioned people, observing them calmly and up close. They are in limbo just like him, waiting on the edge of a presumed paradise. He sees people being chased away like dogs, follows an illegal worker and a drug-addicted mother and slips inside packed shelters. The voices of all these people blend together with his, creating a patchwork of loving memories, dreams and desires.

Credits

Director
Morgan Knibbe
Producer
Katja Draaijer, Frank Hoeve
Year
2014
Country of production
Netherlands, The
Type
Documentary
Duration
74 minutes
Spoken language
Arabic, Bengali, Greek, Italian, Persian
Subtitles
NL
Production company
BALDR Film Amsterdam
Dutch distributor
Cinema Delicatessen