Filming at the Borders: Stopover (L'Escale)
Sponsored by the Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University
Thursday, October 13
6:30 pm
Columbia Maison Française
515 W. 116th Street, Buell Hall
New York, NY 10027
Film screening followed by panel discussion with director Kaveh Bakhtiari and Professor Seyla Benhabib, moderated by Nora Philippe
Genre: Documentary. French-Swiss co-production. 100 min.
Filmed in Greece.
Languages: Farsi, Greek, English, with English subtitles.
New York City Premiere
In Athens, Amir, an Iranian immigrant, has a very modest flat which has become a place of transit for migrants who, just like him, chose to leave their country. But Greece is only a stopover, all of them hoping to reach other Western countries. They find themselves stuck at Amir's, waiting for ID documents, contacts, and the smuggler to whom they might entrust their destiny... Of Iranian origin himself, Bakhtiari stayed one year in the flat with the film's characters, in total secrecy, smuggling the footage every month to Switzerland. Stopover is his first feature-length documentary and besides premiering at Festival de Cannes (Quinzaine des réalisateurs), it was featured in over 20 festivals around the globe. It also won the Special Jury Prize at the International Francophone Film in Namur, the Critic's Prize at New Cinema Festival in Montreal and the Colombe d'Or New Talent Prize at DOK International Festival in Leipzig. "The strength of 'Stopover' lies in the personal and immediate, capturing the insecurity of people desperate to make a new, safer life for themselves, yet hampered by a system designed to be impenetrable." (Variety)
For more information on this event, please click here.