Films by Sandra Budesheim

Germany 2017, 96 min
by Sandra Budesheim, Sabine Zimmer

It is the culmination of every refugee story that is supposed to end with official asylum and resettlement in Germany: the personal interview with a case officer at a branch of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF). The applicant and case officer meet on only one occasion. Asylum-seekers have to provide credible proof that they were persecuted in their home country. BAMF staff are responsible for deciding who stays and who leaves. They rely on the law, their common sense and their conscience. For the first time, BAMF decision-makers in the asylum proceedings offer us an insight into their day-to-day work and allow viewers to witness the asylum interviews which usually take place behind closed doors. They do their job in the eye of the storm of daily media coverage about mass migration and heated debates about the permeability of our borders. They have to find out what is true and what is false, and it is up to them to decide who is still allowed to stay in Germany for humanitarian reasons.

Germany 2010, 57 min
by Sabine Zimmer, Sandra Budesheim

The Polish community is the second largest in Berlin but still it seems invisible. Where are all the Polish migrants in daily life? And what does successful integration mean - is it supposed to be visible or invisible in our society? LITTLE POLAND shows a portrait of polish life in Berlin and follows four polish protagonists telling their hopes, wishes and fears of a life in Germanys capital city.