Filmmaker Statement

I was making another short (fiction) film about queer refugees in Dutch refugee camps when I came across Yusuf during my research. Although I initially only wanted to interview him to learn more about his life in the refugee camp, during our first meeting I felt an instant click. Yusuf was so open and honest about his life. He had something special. The way he looks at the world, choosing to see the beauty of it despite his situation, touched me. I called my cameraman Jonathan ten Broeke and told him that we had to make this film first before shooting our fiction film. And this is what we have done. Yusuf is extremely talented. He writes, plays the piano and is a drag queen. I wanted to bring all these beautiful facets of his life back into the film, along with the poetry he writes. We live in a time in which refugees are often associated as something negative, which is why I chose to focus on the beautiful aspects of Yusuf his life to portray him in a non stereotypical way.