Below are the film clips you will utilize throughout this lesson.

Clip 1: The Start of a Journey(length: 3:00 min.)

The clip begins at 3:00 minutes from the start of the film with text on screen that reads, “And this is a story of a journey,” and ends at 6:00 with Zahra eating.

We find out that Hassan Fazili is a filmmaker, and that he and his wife, Fatima Hossaini, ran an art café in Afghanistan that the Taliban didn’t like, so the Taliban issued a death warrant for Hassan. The couple document the threat so they can apply for asylum in another nation. (We see the large amount of documentation.) Together with their young daughters, Nargis and Zahra, they flee to Tajikistan for safety, but they are denied asylum there, so they are to be deported back to Afghanistan.

Clip 2: Fleeing Afghanistan(length: 1:45 min.)

The clip begins at 22:50 in a car at night. It ends at 24:35 in a van with Hassan telling his daughter to sleep.

After hearing of nearby murders, the family decides it’s unsafe for them in Iran, so they use smugglers to get to Turkey. We get a sense of what that part of the journey is like: a clandestine car ride and an uncomfortable stint in a van with other refugees. Hassan briefly thinks he’s lost his glasses—an easily solved problem under normal circumstances, not so as a refugee.

Clip 3: From Istanbul to Bulgaria (length: 5:30 min.)

The clip begins at 26:00 with Zahra and Nargis sitting at a table. It ends at 31:30 with Nargis and a young man being chased from an orchard back to their Bulgarian safe house.

Hassan negotiates with a smuggler to get them from Turkey into Bulgaria. Though it’s expensive, they are heading to the European Union to seek asylum there. They use a mobile phone to track the route. We see people sleeping on the floor in a safe house and outside in fields, hiking in the rain, hearing stories of being caught and sent back. Fatima injures her ankle, and Nargis goes with another refugee to steal plums because there is no food at the safe house.

Clip 4: Smugglers and Bedbugs(length: 6:55 min.)

The clip starts at 32:15 with Fatima crying, “That short little dog of a smuggler.” It ends at 39:10 with Nargis sitting on a bed after a bit of a meltdown.

Smugglers steal the family’s money and demand more, threatening to kidnap the daughters if it isn’t paid. Then the smugglers abandon the family to sleep on the side of a road. The family is arrested, held for 12 days and then moved to a refugee camp in Sofia, Bulgaria, where there are beds but also bedbugs.

Clip 5: Gang Attack(length: 1:30 min.)

The clip starts at 43:30 with Nargis saying, “I really like Bulgaria.” It ends at 45:00 when a refugee says, “They see us as enemies.”

Outside a refugee camp, a group of refugees, including the family, are assaulted by a nationalist Bulgarian gang. The attack leaves the children feeling unsafe.

Clip 6: From Bulgaria to Serbia(length: 2:10 min.)

The clip begins at 54:00 with refugees who are hiding in a forest huddled around a fire trying to keep warm. It ends at 56:10 with Fatima positioning a mattress to create a sleeping area in a hallway.

The family lives in a forest for several days as they secretly make their way across the border from Bulgaria to Serbia. When they arrive at their destination, they are told there are no beds available, so they are forced to sleep in a hallway.

Clip 7: Stuck in Serbia(length: 1:30 min.)

The clip starts at 1:07:00 with a shot of a rainy day in a Serbian refugee camp. It ends at 1:08:30 after Fatima says, “It’s better to wait for our turn to come.”

Day 271 of the family’s journey finds them stuck in Serbia. Hassan and Fatima reject the option of trying to sneak into Hungary because they don’t want to put the girls through that ordeal.

Clip 8: Stuck in a Transit Zone(length: 1:35 min.)

The clip begins at 1:17:55 with a slate that reads, “After 475 days of waiting in Serbia, the family’s name comes to the top of the list.” It ends at 1:19:30 with a slate that reads, “After nearly three months, they still have no response on their case.”

The family leave Serbia thinking that they will finally reach safety and freedom in Hungary; they are instead captive at a Hungarian transit center as they wait to see whether the asylum they are seeking will be granted.