CARGO On August 26th, 2015 a human traffickers convoy transports 71 refugees through Hungary and lets them suffocate to death.

15 Minutes16:9

SYNOPSYS

At a dark forest border in south Hungary at dawn: 71 refugees wait to be loaded onto a way too small truck. Their Destination: Germany, which tragically, they will never see. As the convoy starts driving, the air in the cargo area runs low and the people inside start knocking and screaming. The truck driver, being under a lot of pressure to finish the transport at any price, is overwhelmed by the situation and makes one wrong decision after another. The audience witness the incredible injustice and together with the refugees prays that the truck driver opens the Cargo doors at last. But eventually it gets quiet in the cargo area. The story is based on the 2017 published cell phone protocols of the human traffickers.

Despite creating a ruthless realism, the director seems to know exactly when the abandonment of a situation is more powerful. With a great sense of sensitivity, she creates a very painful and unsetting seriousness without being voyeuristic

CASTOvanes TorosyanYordan DanchevSahar AlsawahBader KhlifiNóra Mohi

STILLS

Long observing camera shots give a strong feeling of authenticity. The audience embarks on a compelling game between reality and fiction with seemingly blurring lines.

Roughly and intuitively, the camera pans in CRRGO without knowing what will happen next.

With the death of the refugees, the camera movements vanish more and more. A numb Stillness takes their place. Fix framing, that doesn’t let the audience look around creates the feeling of powerlessness.

Despite creating a ruthless realism, the director seems to know exactly when the abandonment of a situation is more powerful. With a great sense of sensitivity, she creates a very painful and unsetting seriousness without being voyeuristic.

VISUAL CONCEPT & DRAMATURGY

Written & Directed by Christina Tournatzés

Director of Photography Alexander Gruber

Editor Ursula Ambach

Sound Design Tschangis Charokh

Produced by Südhang Films

Co-Pruduced by Bayerischer Rundfunk

Supported by FFF Bayern, ARRI

Completion July 2019

DIRECTOR‘S & WRITER‘S COMMENT

When I read the terrible news of this transport, I was about to give birth to my son Brooklyn which was born on September 3rd 2015. In a moment in which I was to bring a newborn into the world, I doubted humanity more than I ever did before. Why are refugees illegal? Why did they just keep driving? Why did nobody open the doors? These questions made me so angry, that I could scream out loud. The suffering of 71 people suffocating to death in a truck seems incomprehensible to us. Daily we get swamped by news of terror happening in war zones in distant countries. It is a shadow of our everyday life. As long as it does not affect us, it is simple to just look away.Looking at the big picture, we live in a bubble of peace.Criminals benefit from our ignorance. Smugglers use the hopelessnessof people that come from war zones to make profit. Around $ 2,000 per person did the smugglers take for the transport, which ended deadly for 71 people.

When I read the cell phone protocol that was published in the Sueddeutsche Zeitung during the court indictment, a vision grabbed me and has not let go of me ever since. The cell phone protocol of the smuggler gang is a document that gives us insight into a criminal micro cosmos. Evil is not just evil, there are different gradations, between driver, middleman and leader of the smuggler gang.

As person and as mother, I deeply care what happens in our world and I am ashamed of some movements that are currently happening in Germany and all over the world.With this film I want to break the distance that people have to media coverage. I want to give a voice to those who have none anymore. It is no solution to look the other way. We have to speak up! Nobody should be illegal.