DAYS OF HOPE / UNDER DEN SAMME HIMMEL
Creative one-off documentary, 75 min., 2013
Looking beyond statistics, the intimate stories of African migrants trying to make it to Europe. A film about longing for a better life across the Mediterranean Sea.
In the coastal town Nouadhibou, Mauritania in Westafrica we follow the people, dreaming and longing for a better life far away from Africa, hoping for a new beginning in Europe. Daily we are confronted with the pictures of desperate boat-refugees, risking their life to escape a miserable life. With this film we get a different perspective. It's about dignity, longing and seeking, with real people who are on their way. In three different places we meet them; the young artist from Mali, who has left his family, trying to supply them from far away, the group of young men sitting and waiting at a sad asylum center in Italy, trying to imagine a life outside the walls in an inhospitable Europe. At last in Copenhagen, where two women almost did it, another kind of emptiness and detained desperation arises. The crucial money hunt is eternal, they need to make a living here and still take care of the ones who stayed behind.
Director Ditte Haarløv Johnsen
Producer Vibeke Vogel
Photographer Minka Jakerson, Niels Buchholzer
Editor Jeppe Bødskov
With the support of New Danish Screen, DANIDA, Danish Ministry of Education , MEDIA, Danish Film Directors
Awards Best Documentary, Raindance Film Festival 2016 & Best documentary by Politiken, Danish national newspaper, 2013
TRAILER
Ditte Haarløv Johnsen
Ditte Haarløv Johnsen grew up in Maputo, Mozambique, with Danish parents. She is a photographer and a film director.
Since 2001 her base is in Copenhagen. She holds a BA in communication from Roskilide University and has studied at The Danish School of Art Photography; Fatamorgana. In 2007 she graduated from the Documentary Department at The National Film School of Denmark.
Her photographic work has been exhibited in Syria, Finland, Mozambique, Germany, Canada South Africa and Denmark. Her ongoing photo exhibition "Maputo Diary" was awarded 1st Prize at the Photo Triennal in Odense, 2006 and is now being published as a photo book.
Her debut as a film director, "One Day" was launched at IDFA in 2007 where it received a Special Mention and was awarded best short documentary at Cph:Dox, One World Film Festival in Prague and IndieLisboa.
"Days of Hope" is Ditte’s first feature length documentary film.