THE WALK is based on an extraordinary artistic endeavour in 2021 which saw a 12 foot tall puppet called Amal travel for three months across Europe, raising awareness of the plight of unaccompanied young refugees. The film follows the journey of Amal, from the Syrian border, all the way across Europe, as she searches for safety and a place where she feels welcome.
In October 2021, she memorably came to Folkestone, and we're delighted to be hosting the UK Premiere of this new film about her.
In the film, Amal is a real girl with a real voice (an inner monologue narrated by a Syrian refugee), which expresses the hopes and fears that a young girl would feel on this journey. Just like any human, she struggles with a diversity of emotions. She has her thoughts, memories, dreams and fears that we witness along her journey. She meets lots of other refugees like her, all on their own journeys, and she also meets plenty of people who don’t want her in their country.
THE WALK is not a typical documentary. It mixes vérité documentary with fantastical semi-scripted elements to create a fairytale for adults.
2023 / 80 mins / Norway, UK, USA, Macedonia / Arabic, English
Opening Night Party - 6:00pm
The screening is preceded by the festival's opening night party from 6:00pm, open to all festival pass holders and ticket holders for this film.
The film itself will start at 7:30pm.
Schools Screening
The Walk will also be screened at a special Schools Screening on Friday October 18th. Read here for more details - This school screening is now SOLD OUT.
Filmmaker - Tamara Kotevska
Screening in partnership with Together Films
+ Iranian Yellow Pages (12mins) - Filmmaker: Anna Snowball
Dotted across London, Iranian-owned shops, exchange offices, and restaurants house newspaper stands stacked with colourful Farsi-language publications. Tucked within their pages are intriguing free ads called the 'Iranian Yellow Pages'. We discover the people behind these adverts; OAPs partying at a lunch club, a lady washing cars, a puppeteer doing shows in the library, many lonely hearts, and a refugee delivery driver who dreams of launching a catering business in order for his wife and son to join him in London. They all want the same thing; to find connections in the lonely city they now call home and reconnection to the complicated country they've left behind.
Trailer
