Idomeni

A disturbing and dramatic time in the lives of a few people, portrayed in a low-key and gripping way.

In eleven chapters, we follow two Yazidi girls from Iraq who hope to find safety and a new life in Germany. We meet them the first time at Idomeni, a temporary camp in Greece on the border to North Macedonia. There they live close together. The mobile phones are always nearby, as the only link to the family and friends in Iraq. Yasir’s wife has been a prisoner of ISIS for a year and a half, but hope of reuniting is rekindled when he receives a message about a prisoner exchange between ISIS and YPG forces. David Aronowitsch’s masterfully portrayed Idomeni is a touching portrait of children and adults during a period of waiting, hope and the deep wounds that will never disappear.

• Tobias Åkesson