Private Project

THE MUDDY RIVER OF BAASIM - RAFIK AND THE POET

Although the film was formally completed in 2020, its director continued to work on its subject and today, two years after its premiere and ten years after the first shooting in Kirkan, Turkey, he delivers its final and complete version (May 26, 2022). Helbestên Merwan Berekat, one of the most important Kurdish poets and writers, participates in the script of the documentary.
Rafik will flee Kobane and find himself in the Kirkan camp in Turkey's Hatay province, on the border with Syria. He will wander through the territories of Turkey, be transported to Istanbul and then to Edirne in order to secretly cross the Ebro. There, he will meet the notorious traffickers Emre and Semih who will promise him passage to the opposite bank and his meeting with his brother.
Rafik will be arrested in Greece, transferred to a refugee facility in Thessaloniki, cross the mountains of Albania at night, sleep in a cemetery in Croatia, face border guards, high fences along the Balkan route, police violence in all its forms. Rafik's dream will crash into Hungary's electric fence.
An incessant wandering of Rafik and each Rafik on the borderline of life and death, a journey from East to West where the dream of moving to Europe begins to fade and its place is taken by an undefined and fluid goal: "to go to the opposite bank', 'to be on the other side of the fence', without anyone being able to say with certainty what is on the opposite bank or on the other side.
At a second level of analysis, the defenseless Rafik, all alone in a world of violence and exploitation of human existence, searching for his brother somewhere in Europe, seems to be searching for a gaze that will embrace and defend him, perhaps the signs of a non-existent god as traverses the geographic coordinates. Rafik will never meet his brother, he already knew from the beginning of his journey that he was dead, a "star in the Jordan River", and will remain trapped behind the fences.
A pivotal role in the film is played by the filmed pillars during the refugee journey. As "men of iron", motionless and mute, condemned to remain trapped in the same geographical coordinates until their total erosion, sometimes they identify with the refugees trapped in the same geographical points and sometimes they silently watch the mute human river as it crosses the space.
The film's music is composed by Grammy-awarded Thanasis Alatas.

  • THOMAS SIDERIS
    Director
  • HELBESTEN MERWAN BEREKAT
    Writer
  • OROS FILMS
    Producer
  • PENELOPE MAKRINIOTI
    Producer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 28 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    May 28, 2022
  • Production Budget:
    44,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Germany
  • Country of Filming:
    Albania, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Syrian Arab Republic, Turkey
  • Language:
    Arabic, English, French, Kurdish
  • Shooting Format:
    DIGITAL
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Black & White and Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - THOMAS SIDERIS

T h o m a s S i d e r i s is an investigative journalist and director.

He is working at Greek Broadcasting Corporation.

His name was in the short list for 2 years in a row (2018 and 2019) for the PRIX EUROPA PRIZE, a special EU prize for the best journalist in Europe.

He has been honored with TORCH AWARD in USA (human rights advocasy via his films, Pennsylvania, May 2021).

He has been honored with Journalists and Writers Foundation Award (New York, September 2019).

He has been honored with Athanasios Botsis Journalism Foundation Award (Athens, January 2018).

He has been honored with Albert Schweitzer International Organization Award (Vienna, September 2017).

He has been honored with more than 20 awards at film festivals around the world for his films.

He studied Political Sciences and Public Administration at the Law School of the University of Athens and specialized in the mass media.

He has a postgraduate diploma in Human and Social Geography on the subject "Human Geography, Space Development and Design" by the University of the Aegean.

He is a PhD candidate in Human and Social Geography by the Harokopio University of Athens. His research field is about the human body in space, the human “landscapes” and the fluid temporary habitable spaces and the fluid identities.

He is a member of International Academy of Social Sciences (Florida, USA).

The films:

LET ME BREATHE', 73 min, USA, 2021
• TORCH AWARD, USA, 2021
• ICAN HANNA International Film Festival Award, Pennsylvania, USA, 2021
• AWARD OF DISTINCTION Huntington Beach Cultural Showcase, Florida, USA, 2021
• Official selection (FINALIST) in the ICANLAX International Documentary Festival, LOS ANGELES, USA (September 24-26, 2021)
• Official selection (NOMINEE) Kautik International Film Festival, India, December 2020
• Official selection of Antiracism Weeks, Germany, 2021
• Official selection (NOMINEE) International Film Festival of Detective Films and Television programs on Law-Enforcement themes DetectiveFEST, Russia, 2021

THE MUDDY RIVER OF BAASIM, 74 min, USA, 2020
• GOLD AWARD, IERAPETRA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL AND AWARDS, GREECE, 2021
• AUDIENCE AWARD, IERAPETRA INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL AND AWARDS, GREECE, 2021
• OFFICIAL SELECTION THESSALONIKI INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL, GREECE, 2021
• Official selection (FINALIST) in the 1st Festival of Human Rights of Catalonia (Festival de Cinema i Drets Humans de Catalunya) (April 2021)
• Official SELECTION of Antiracism Weeks, Germany, 2021
• OFFICIAL SELECTION AND SEMI FINALIST SOUTH EAST REGIONAL FILM FESTIVAL, USA, 2020
• OFFICIAL SELECTION AND SEMI FINALIST AFRICA FILM FOR IMPACT FESTIVAL, NIGERIA, 2020

EXODUS, 30 min, GREECE, 2021
• OFFICIAL SELECTION, 4th Bahari International Film Festival, Indonesia, September 2021

A PRISON OF SILENCE, 68:25 min, GREECE, 2021
• OFFICIAL SELECTION, 1st 1st Grito Queer International Film Festival, Sao Paolo, Brazil, October, 2021

THE NOOSE, 103 min, GREECE-USA-TURKEY-GERMANY, 2018
• SILVER AWARD INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL OF IERAPETRA 2018
• HONORARY DISTINCTION BOTSI JOURNALISM FOUNDATION, 2018
• OFFICIAL SELECTION INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL OF THESSALONIKI, GREECE, 2018
• SPECIAL MENTION JOURNALISTS AND WRITERS FOUNDATION NEW YORK, 2019
• SPECIAL MENTION AMERICAN TURKISH FRIENDSHIP ASSOCIATION, USA, 2019
• SPECIAL MENTION COUNTY OF FAIRFAX, USA, 2019
• SPECIAL MENTION DIALOGUE PLATFORM, BRUSSELS, 2019
• *OFFICIAL SELECTION FILM FOR PEACE, TORONTO, CANADA, 2020
• OFFICIAL SELECTION ATHENS INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL FILM FESTIVAL, 2020

LIKE THE SEAGULLS OVER THE GOLDEN HORN, 74 min, GREECE, 2020
• SPECIAL MENTION LONDON GREEK FILM FESTIVAL, 2020
• SPECIAL AWARD INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF IERAPETRA, 2020
• AWARD FOR PROTOTYPE MUSIC INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF IERAPETRA, 2020
• HONORARY DISTINCTION, 9th ATHENS INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL FILM FESTIVAL, 2020
• OFFICIAL SELECTION AND FINALIST ATHENS INTERNATIONAL DIGITAL FILM FESTIVAL, 2020
• OFFICIAL SELECTION AND FINALIST AEGEAN DOCS INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL, 2020

LETTER FROM THE PONDUS, ERT PRODUCTION, 75 min, GREECE, 2019
• OFFICIAL SELECTION INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL OF IERAPETRA, 2019
• OFFICIAL SELECTION INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL OF CHALKIDA, 2019

St POLYKARPOY STREET (VOTANIKOS), 56 min, GREECE, 2018
• OFFICIAL SELECTION INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL OF IERAPETRA, 2019
• OFFICIAL SELECTION INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL OF CHALKIDA, 2019

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

Rafik's story changed my life.
The wandering of a minor refugee in space and time, proves in practice that nothing in life is a given.