Film & Debate: Those Who Feel the Fire Burning - Main contents
On April 23th 2015, the Montesquieu Institute and Filmhuis Den Haag runned Those Who Feel the Burning by director Morgan Knibbe. The film is about refugees who try to reach Europe.
Over the recent years the number of people seeking refugee-status in Europe has increased. The film Those Who Feel the Fire Burning shows the hopeless existence of some refugees stuck at the edge of Europe. As a group of refugees tries to enter Europe illegally by boat, a storm suddenly appears and all hell breaks loose when an old man falls overboard.
After the film was shown director Morgan Knibbe i, member of European Parliament Dennis de Jong i (Socialist Party) and immigration expert Christian Mommers i discussed the film and the solution of Europe's migration crisis.
Practical information
Date & time: April 23th 2015, 19:00 to 21:15
Location: Filmhuis Den Haag, Spui 191 The Hague
Entree fee: € 9,-, € 7,50 for students and the elderly
Film and debate is organized by the Filmhuis Den Haag, Montesquieu Institute and the international press centre Nieuwspoort. Please note the debate is in Dutch, even though the movie is in English. For further information we kindly refer you to the Dutch version of our website by clicking on 'Nederlands' in the right upper corner of this page.
The night is pitch-black, the sea stormy. Wild waves break on a little boat full of refugees, where a girl laments that she does not want to go to Europe. Suddenly an old man falls overboard. In vain he tries to grab the saving hands. Colored lightning flashes over a busy city seen from above. From that point on, the drowned man sees reality from another dimension. Unconventional and poetic in form, Those Who Feel the Fire Burning documents a serious social problem: the hopeless situation of the refugees who actually manage to make the crossing alive. The seeking soul of the old man hurries along the southern European border and dwells on the many disillusioned people, observing them calmly and up close. They would seem to be in limbo just like him, waiting on the edge of a presumed paradise. He sees people on the street chased away like dogs, follows an illegal worker and a drug-addicted mother and slips inside packed shelters. The voices of all these people blend together with his, creating a patchwork of loving memories, dreams and desires.