Scenes in-between

​Scenes in-between is a collaborative documentary film that traces the adaptation and integration processes of the people from Ukraine in Berlin. The film is part of the project Ukraine-Germany: Protection and Social Inclusion of Ukrainian Refugees in Germany. It was made jointly by the participants themselves, social workers, and the film team.

 

At the start of a four-month activation and volunteering group, participants took part in a workshop on self-perception through the camera. Social workers and participants developed the questions and filming methods together. Next came a series of interviews in which they introduced themselves, told the story of their journey to Berlin, and posed questions to their future selves. Over the next four months, the camera followed their active participation in volunteering actions, integration trainings, and community building. At the end of the project, participants watched their own interviews, answered the questions they had asked three months earlier, and reflected on the path they had travelled and how they had changed.

 

The film attempts to return agency to its participants. Politicians, social-sector professionals, activists, journalists: everyone talks about refugees, but no one talks with them. The film asks refugees directly: Do you feel comfortable in Berlin? What do you think of Germany? We hear the answers in their own words against the system that constantly bureaucratizes them and strips them of an individual voice. Most participants are still in the middle of migrating and building a life in a new country. At the same time, they form their own judgments about the local order, the political system, differences and similarities, cultures and philosophies.

 

The film shows clearly that refugees from Ukraine are not a burden on the system. People who fled the war to Berlin are ready to take on responsibility, help the local community, and be an active part of German civil society. They are not passive victims of Russian aggression. They are active participants in Berlin's volunteer movement who want to help others and share their own experience of overcoming hardship.

 

Idea, camera & editing: Anton Dorokh

Sound: Rusya Abrosimova

Project facilitators: Alisa Rentowisch, Alisa Poplavska, Nikolai Pilot

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Created within the Ukraine-Germany project of OlamAid e.V.

Supported by the Central Welfare Board of Jews in Germany (ZWST) and Aktion Deutschland Hilft e.V.