VIENNA, 10 June 2024 – With the help of a Kurdish refugee and cardiologist living in Clarkston, Georgia (USA), the former KKK leader could overcome his hatred and find healing. Illustrating the roots of hate, its impacts and how it can be overcome, the film initiates an important discourse on how social exclusion and the resulting social tensions are universal phenomena that require comprehensive attention and solutions.
After the screening experts from civil society and UNHCR Austria engaged in a discussion about the touching moments of the film and how the movie relates to their own work with refugees. Mahdi Bahrami, Youth Leader at the “Kicken ohne Grenzen” (“Kicking without borders”) football project highlighted the importance of sports in connecting people: “You do not have to speak the same language as soon as you step on this green field.” Mahdi who himself fled from Afghanistan to Austria, sees “Kicken ohne Grenzen” as an opportunity to give people who have lost their homes the chance to make new friends and regain the feeling of belonging.
Nora Ramirez Castillo, Therapy Coordinator at HEMAYAT care centre for survivors of torture and war, highlighted the power of connections and community as featured in the movie. That is according to her how the healing process can commence and flourish. She talked about the work at HEMAYAT where she and her colleagues supported 1,600 people from 57 different countries in the past year: “With individual psychotherapy to treat traumatized patients, it is important to create a safe space, to make it possible to talk about what the people experienced.”
Ruth Schoeffl, Spokesperson of UNHCR Austria, talked about the relevance of speaking to each other: “We live in a divided world and what touched me in this film is that both are strong characters but they learn so much from each other and acted against every cliché in my mind.”
This message is what many participants took away from the screening: the importance of speaking to each other which is where all of us can make a difference.
Photo: Refuge
