SYNOPSIS:
Welcome to Vienna, a city in the heart of Europe that four young men want to call home. Fawad, Marwand, Najib and Samim - supported by debut director Lucy Ashton - film themselves as they try to establish their lives, navigate growing up between cultures, and grapple with the complexities of a duplicitous, and sometimes mistrustful, Europe. Together they experience Austria’s acceptance of Fawad and Samim, and rejection of Marwand and Najib - who hide, and ultimately flee. While navigating the tricky relationship between their cameras and their stories, the young men weave a powerful tale of friendship and hope.
The Story behind Caravan
Austria received one of the highest number of asylum requests per capita in Europe in 2015/16 when thousands of people crossed into Europe – mostly escaping wars in the Middle East and Afghanistan. Many Europeans reacted with an outpouring of generosity and compassion, but as the news story moved on and the years passed, what happened to those refugees, particularly the unaccompanied teenagers, about half of them Afghan and who are so often seen as a problem group? Did they settle? Did they integrate? Did they succeed in their lives?
CARAVAN started as a gut reaction to months of research in 2019 on asylum seekers, without ever really reading or hearing from refugees themselves what they thought about their predicament. Everything was distilled by lawyers, NGO workers or academics.
With the help of a Fellowship from the Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen (Institute for Human Sciences) in Vienna, Lucy set about interviewing young Afghans about their lives in Europe.
What some of these young Afghans had to say.
The way they said it.
Their humour, their spirit…
Well I thought the world should hear from them.
But really FROM THEM.
What they wanted to tell.
Not their stories as interpreted by my camera.
That’s why the film is shot by them.
First though.
How to tell a story?
And how to film it?
Movement.
A little mystery
Formal
And informal .
Close up
And engagement.
And a point of view.
