Refugees (welcome)

A short film about two years of refugee migration to Germany. We spoke to the filmmaker Josephine Kuthning.

You made a movie for the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung on the discussions about refugee policies, and while doing that you interviewed a lot of citizens in Berlin. What did you think of the prevailing mood?

In the course of those interviews I met some very different people who held quite opposite viewpoints. And I had to confront many worried or xenophobic opinions that I had not expected to hear. During more probing conversations it was exciting to realize that the interviewees who had had direct contact with refugees harbored less fear and fewer prejudices than those whose information came exclusively from the media or from a close circle of acquaintances.

Your film sets several milestones in the discussion about refugees. Why did you choose the ones that you did, and were there other ones that ultimately did not make it into the film?

It was especially difficult for me to present such a broad, emotionally charged topic objectively and comprehensively in a film that lasts just a few minutes. In the end I chose the milestones that had been covered intensively by the media over the past two years. Viewers associated strong emotions with those events and formed their own personal opinions in response to such emotions. What I was not able to fit into the movie was a more detailed look at each specific point. As a result mood swings in the film seem to be narrated faster than they actually happened in reality, which of course was and is more nuanced.

The film also deals with the fact that the discussions about flight, migration, and integration were accompanied by the rise of a right-wing populist movement. In your view, how much did that influence the climate of public opinion?

The climate of public opinion grew even more polarized because of the rise of the right-wing populist movement. We got a clearer sense of that as people suddenly began taking positions for or against refugees, and did so more frankly and radically than before.

How do you yourself see the evolution of public opinion on the issue of flight, migration, and integration?

In the wake of the events of summer, 2015 and the refugee debate, those other issues—migration and integration—began to interest the public again, but with both positive and negative connotations. Right now, I sense an ever widening chasm between people’s points of view. Hopefully, this will lead us to discuss things more with each other and look for a common, solution-oriented course.

 

Josephine Kuthing is a professionally trained journalist and does numerous productions for the Web and TV in her capacity as a freelance author. Her projects include prize-winning broadcasts for both private and public television. In addition she develops and produces films for federal ministries, foundations, and businesses. She has been on the road often in recent years, both in Germany and abroad, in behalf of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung doing interviews or producing moving documentaries.

You can find the film Refugees (welcome)—wie die Flüchtlingsdebatte Deutschland bewegt on our FES YouTube channel.

*Please note that the film is only available with German subtitles at the moment.