VERGEBLICHE FLUCHT

Allam, Ismael, Moubarak and Dash, four young men in their early twenties, fled war and poverty and travelled illegally to Italy from the Sudan. They were full of hope and expectations of a better life until they realised the reality that faced them. Now they work on low pay as labourers and are treated like slaves. They live in tents with 300 other legal and illegal African immigrants near the village of Cassibile in Sicily, with no access to water and sanitary facilities. The local population don't like the 'intruders' but for the big landowners they are a godsend. Mafia-like structures are in place – their 'bosses' keep a percentage of their earnings and anyone who complains, won't be offered any more work. Trying to escape the degradation by fleeing to another European country is pointless – most who try to do so are picked up by the police and sent back to Italy. Still, more and more dinghies overcrowded with hopeful immigrants head for European shores. They are, as yet, unaware of the surprise that awaits them.

Award: "Boundless / Grenzenlos" - Medienpreis für kulturelle Vielfalt, 2007