Stop and go

Logline

Early December 2015. The Balkans route now to a great extent is under governmental control. The flow of refugees is channeled. Silence after the storm.Guarded stations, industrious camps, waiting busses, refugees are passing unnoticed by the public eye in a foggy landscape of an alienated dream.
This documentary follows the course of the river. It does not draw a map, it observes the river’s flow true to the rhythm of the stream.

Data

Synopsis

“A month ago it was a real chaos.” Darko Urbas, help coordinator, camp Dobova, Slovenia

A train station, winter evening light, a single police officer on guard, barely moving, fog, a speaker announces a train’s arrival. A refugee camp, evening light, fog, UN tents, scattered police, military officers, volunteers, translators, no sign of journalists, photographers, refugees.

Early December 2015. Slovenia, Austria and Germany have adjusted their policies towards the stream of refugees. The media’s interest has moved elsewhere. The refugees still are coming in waves. In a matter of a few hours 3000 people arrive. They are controlled, registered, fed and sent to the next stage of their journey by train or bus. After arriving there their first question is, „Where are we?“

As an undertone, this question remains unanswered throughout the pictures of the film. Seemingly unagitated, without rush, without clashes, the Balkans route has become a quiet route along isolated scenes.

In unadorned and poetic, quiet and unquieting night pictures this documentary shows people guided virtually invisible through Europe.

Reviews

GOLDEN APRICOT DAILY DAY 4 | 12 JULY | 2017
A Train to Nowhere
Stop and Go (Giovanni Pannico & Ralph Kronauer, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, 2016). Documentary

“Once upon once there was the Balkan route”, an opening title in the documentary short Stop and
Go says. In meticulously edited shots, some very factual and some bordering on impressionistic, the
directors show refugees arriving in Europe carried to and fro, seemingly without destination. A
column of immigrants stretches towards a station, which is shot in a way as if it itself is a train
made of a flow of humans. A train to nowhere. They arrive in buses or on foot. They are stopped,
but later allowed to move on. They’ve been displaced, they’ve lost their homes and livelihood and
they’ve lost themselves. They come empty-handed, only children in their arms. They come without
knowing where they are or where to go next. They’ve run away from sudden revolutions and wars
and a desperate existence. Sometimes caring hands give out food and water when they arrive. They
are called refugees. As victims of a humanitarian crisis, people feel sorry for them, but they don’t
always welcome or sympathize with them. People are wary around them. Old walls may have
crumbled, but new ones are erecting. Walls to isolate ourselves from them. An escalator moving
upward becomes a symbol of a new and promising life – but not for all of them… Filmmakers Ralph
Kronauer and Giovanni Pannico succeed in creating this powerful image purely through
observation, showing a deep artistic understanding of the processes happening in the world today.
SG

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