The Game

The game is the term used by migrants in transit along the Balkan route to indicate the
attempt to irregularly cross a State border. There are countless reasons that push people
to migrate, yet individual needs and desires clash with the nature and weight of the
passport possessed. On an uphill journey through the Balkans, which is undertaken by
thousands of people aiming to enter into one of the European Union countries seen as a
refuge, people come across a cruel obstacle course. The last piece to overcome is
represented by Croatia, a land barricaded behind a massive deployment of batons.
Croatia, as we have documented through the voices trapped at the gates of the EU, does
not allow the entrance and the crossing of the country, the deposition of asylum requests
and, in many cases, repels migrants into neighbouring countries.
"Migrant" is the faded label that is sticked to you when nobody cares about your biography.
In September 2018 there were more than 250 people in Velika Klasusa, a small town in
the north western part of Bosnia and Herzegovina, blocked a few steps away from the
Croatian border in a state of psychological fragility due to the beatings and the terrible
conditions faced during the long journey. The documentary tells, through the
autobiographical stories of some migrants, the living conditions and the dimensions of the
violence that these people are forced to endure to reach the European Union.
The same European Union plays a double role in this story.
On the one hand it guarantees the fundamental rights of Men nevertheless, on the other
hand, it promotes the militarization of its borders.