dokumentary-movie-project
stepping forward, malta
The documentary film STEPPING FORWARD addresses the sensitive issue of irregular migration in the Mediterranean region. Thoroughly researched, it attempts to shed lid on this issue. In order to gain a better understanding of the challenge posed by the massive rush on Europe’s coastal areas, it is not enough to merely show the well-known pictures of boats overflowing with refugees. What is needed is an in-depth analysis of the means and actions necessary to improve the situation long-term. Devoid of familiar clichés and over-emotionalization of the topic, STEPPING FORWARD focuses on the current situation of the “smalles EU-member state, Malta”. Due to Malta’s geographical location, 350 kilometers north of the Lybian coast and 91 kilometers south of the Sicilian coast, the independent island state has been subject to unusually high levels of immigration during the past years.
The way this challenge is dealt with has taken on a European dimension, because Malta is no longer autonomous in decisions regarding its immigration policy since its inclusion in the EU’s joint asylum and immigration policy. Thus, Malta was caught in the crosshairs of European immigration debates and is becoming a real-life example of the so-called “Fortress Europe”. The Master students Casjen Ennen and Benjamin Wiedenbruch, Stuttgart Media University, in collaboration with free-lance cultural anthropologist and author Ulrike Kübler, present a documentary film whose subject matter could not be more current. The self-initiated film project represents an attempt at providing an objective and future-oriented perspective on the situation in the Mediterranean area. At the same time, it aims at exposing current events and presenting suggestions for possible solutions to the ongoing struggle for more humane immigration policies. An issue that Europe will need to deal with for a long time to come.
enu is collecting money to contribute to production and post-production costs of the documentary films.