Refugee Stories

Refugee Stories

Get a unique glimpse into the personal realities of refugees and undocumented immigrants around the world.

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Refugee Stories
  • Radio Dadaab

    Dadaab, the world’s second largest refugee camp, faces a new influx of refugees. Fardowsa, a stateless journalist born and raised in the camp, becomes a voice for the voiceless through the camp’s radio station, amplifying stories of climate, migration, and hope.

    Director and Producer: Environmen...

  • The Dream of Karabakh

    In The Dream of Karabakh, refugee and mother-of-five Shushan is living in Armenia after losing her home in the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region during a war with Azerbaijan. She is grieving a double loss: her husband died in a car accident six months prior to the conflict.

    Shushan reminisces abo...

  • Pizza, Democracy and The Little Prince

    Profound discoveries and new friendships take place during a conversation between Syrian children seeking refuge in Istanbul, and international students, volunteering in Turkey over their summer holidays.

    Directors: Alessandro Leonardi and Elena Horn
    2018 | 9 min
    Turkey
    Subtitles: English

    Filmm...

  • Águilas (Eagles)

    Along the southern desert border in Arizona, it is estimated that only one out of every five missing migrants are ever found. Águilas is the story of one group of searchers, the Aguilas del Desierto. Once a month these volunteers—construction workers, gardeners, domestic laborers by trade—set out...

  • UNESCO We Teach Here, Uganda

    This video shows the experiences of local Ugandan and refugee teachers in a refugee camp in Uganda through professionally filmed footage and user-generated content where the teachers film their daily experiences themselves, allowing the viewer to share their daily experiences up close. Dedicated ...

  • Home/Aamir (VR/360)

    “Home: Aamir” is the first of a series of Surround Vision 360 degree films exploring the meaning of home through the stories of refugees in the Calais “Jungle”. This first film, a collaboration between the National Theatre, Surround Vision and Room One, follows a 22-year-old man escaping the thre...

  • We Are Rohingya (VR/360)

    Mohammed and his family awoke one morning to the sound of gunfire in their village in Myanmar. The father of three describes how his son Ismail went from having a relatively normal life playing soccer with his friends, to trekking through rain-drenched forests to escape Myanmar, and falling sick ...

  • Welcome To Canada

    This short film tells the story of Mohammed Alsaleh, a young Syrian refugee granted asylum in Canada in 2014. After fleeing torture and imprisonment by the Assad regime, he is rebuilding his life. Mohammed counsels newly-arrived Syrian refugee families with the same Vancouver-based NGO that aided...

  • Transit

    Powerful intimate stories of young refugees who risked their lives crossing the Aegean Sea to Europe, only to get trapped on the Greek Island of Lesvos with no future and closed borders. It was supposed to be only their "transit" stop, but it turned out where they ended.

    Director: Mariam El Mara...

  • Routes

    ROUTES is a journey of refugees recounts a small daily reality on their arrival in Europe. A topical issue which has become a humanitarian crisis. Through recorded interviews in the autumn of 2015, between the Isle of Lesbos (Greece) and the Macedonian border with Serbia, is still one of the most...

  • La Casita Rosa

    La Casita Rosa is a short documentary based on the humanitarian efforts of Las Patronas, a group of Mexican women determined to help feed the countless immigrants riding on top of cargo trains heading to the U.S.

    Director: Elvin Herrera
    Producers: Elvin Herrera
    12 min | Mexico
    Languages: Spanish...

  • Into The Sea

    Into the Sea follows the family of Suleiman Hajazzi as they are relocated from a refugee camp in Greece to more permanent housing. Suleiman, his son and wife recount their journey escaping violence in Afghanistan and their hopes and dreams for their future.

    Director: Daphne Matziaraki
    2020 | 15 ...

  • How Far Is Home

    In the midst of Trump's immigration ban, a teenage refugee Ahmed and his sister Ruba find a home at a Cleveland school for immigrants. Will they be able to reach their dreams?

    Director: Apo Bazidi
    2020 | 21 min | USA
    Language: English

    FILMMAKER Q&A:
    https://simaacademy.com/filmmaker-qa/how-far-...

  • Hotel U.S.A.

    A roadside motel in Newark New Jersey harbors refugees during their first night in America. “Hotel U.S.A.” captures a group of newcomers during their first moments in the country, exploring the sense of loss and hope that pervades the refugee experience.

    Director: Andrea Meller
    Producers: Andrea...

  • Fledgling

    A little boy in a refugee camp finds and befriends a lost baby bird. He feeds it, protects it, and at night it sleeps close beside him. The adults observe him with tender sadness, oblivious to the Life that the child had given to a dirty old piece of cloth.

    Director: Juliette Rogasik
    Producer: J...

  • Exodus

    In 2017, Myanmar carried out genocide against its own people, the Rohingya Muslims. Over one million Rohingya were forced to flee to neighbouring Bangladesh into what has become the largest refugee camp in the world. Some Rohingya documented their violent displacement and persecution on cell phon...

  • Cross World

    Cross World is a short film focusing on the theme of “The #Personal is the #Political”, and highlighting the experience of #refugee #women. An intimate conversation between two refugee girls who have never met. Aya, a 14-year-old Syrian refugee girl and, Justinah, a 23-year-old South Sudanese ref...

  • Behind The Fence (VR/360)

    Behind the Fence is a 360 virtual reality documentary that looks inside the 5×5 square mile camp that imprisons the Rohingya Muslim minority in Myanmar, and investigates the extremist Buddhists who propagate virulent anti-Muslim sentiment across the country. Behind the Fence profiles Abul, a husb...