Stranger in Paradise

Netherlands, Feature Documentary, 2016, 73 min

Opening night film at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam

A brutally direct lesson in the realities of European refugee politics. Screen Daily

"We don’t want you. We just can’t do it." In a European classroom, a teacher explains to a group of newly arrived migrants what their arrival will cost society. "Less than half of you will ever find work. Go back home and start your own welfare state." To the second migrant class, the teacher is welcoming and empathetic, and to the third, he is just dispassionate. This powerful film experiment uses real migrants (who are informed that they are to be filmed and interviewed), and dispenses with niceties to confront Europe’s twisted attitudes toward migrants head on, in person.

Directed by Guido Hendrikx

Colorado Premiere

A Call2Action selection