Synopsis
After his second failed attempt, the young Malian Mohamed finds himself in Gao, northern Mali. Gao is a hub for refugees from Central and West Africa and usually the first stop on one of the world's oldest migration routes via Algeria and Morocco to Europe. This is where Mohamed tries to regain his strength and earn the necessary money for his next attempt. Actually Mohamed wanted to work as a rice farmer in his homeland, Mali, but after his father's death his mother took him out of school and sold the only cattle the family had in order to send her eldest son off to Europe.Mohamed meets Jerry from Cameroon in Algeria, at the border with Morocco. Jerry wants to become a musician and couldn't bare the lack of opportunity in his home country any longer. Three years have gone by since his departure. While attempting to swim around the fence of Melilla, he got caught by the Moroccan military and was deported to the desert. He too is waiting for a new opportunity to try the journey to Europe again.
For her film FOREIGN, the director Miriam Fassbender accompanied Mohamed and Jerry on their journey to the borders of Europe for two years. A journey shaped by hurry and stagnation, hope and resignation, testing their will power over and over again. Due to the closeness to the protagonists the film offers an emotional insight into the daily lives of these two migrants, who represent the millions of refugees leaving their home countries each year, hoping to build a better life for themselves somewhere else.