Q: What is the style of the film?

A: We wanted the film to be as direct and transparent as possible, with the focus on the migrant families and their stories. For this reason, there is no voice-over narration or added music or sound effects, and there are also no “talking heads” – everyone who appears in the film has a direct connection to one of the three families. We don’t pretend that the camera isn’t there or that every scene is somehow “pure” or natural; to the contrary, I believe that the filmmaker can and should sometimes be a bit disruptive, creating situations and opportunities for truth to surface. At the same time, I guess I do appreciate a sort of simplicity and purity in documentaries: I believe that a powerful scene or interview conveys its own emotions and insights, without pseudo-poetic voice-overs or tear-jerking cello tracks. Essentially, we wanted to give the migrant families a series of occasions to share their lives and tell their own stories, without external material. We did that by recording verité footage and by creating opportunities for reflection, such as by showing the families past interviews and footage of themselves. We also incorporated home videos and used a variety of cameras and aspect ratios, so as to differentiate between past and present and to form layers of memory.