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Director's Statement
The reality of illegal immigrants in Greece and the conditions in which they live were what stimulated me to begin this film.
am one of those who believe that it is the cinema's duty to focus on social problems and an man as part of a social sphere. When I met these foreigners, these "different" people, I wanted to talk about their feelings, their strength and dignity. The social level always exists. The director simply shows it at times and at others keeps it in the Back¬ground of the story.
I began to record the eyewitness accounts and stories of these peo-ple in 1998 and the script of the film emerged from this record.
I wanted them to be the protagonists themselves because only their faces and their clear gaze could impress themelves on their story.
The film was completed in October 2000 and in the meantime the five protagonists had changed more than once and some scenes had to be reshot.
But this fluidity was part of the nature of the film. This fluidity corre-sponded to the reality of the illegal immigrant. What is special about the Kurds is that since they have no country they are the only ones who have no papers, no proof as to who is who.
Today, of the film's protagonists only 2-3 remain in Greece. Zirek Misuri (the narrator of the story) now lives in Dusseldorf, two live in Holland, another two in enclaves in Italy.
The entire film was shot at night since this is the reality of these peo-ple. They move about chiefly at night and this condition forced us to use video.
We worked with few lights and the lights of the city.