
Shadow Game
Netherlands, 2021, 90'
YOUNG JURY DAY
This documentary is a multi-voiced depiction of the darker sides of Europe and its asylum politics, a mosaic of lives, hopes, misadventures, violence, and disillusionment. The very young refugees are faced with all kinds of hardships to get to Europe, often trying to cross the borders on foot. They walk for hundreds of kilometres and are often subjected to abuse from frontier police, under any kind of weather, while they risk being sent back to the point of departure time and time again. They call it “the game,” winning is nearly impossible. Shadow Game is an experimental project constructed with the help of the characters themesleves, who film their long walks with their phones. Their only company is often the camera, to which they confess their homesickness, their sorrow for the people they’ve lost, and the dreams for a better future once the final goal of the game has been attained: arriving in Europe, that in their eyes looks like the place of infinite options, where one can study, find a job, and live a painless life with one’s family.