International Law & Popcorn: Green Border

In the organizer's words:

GREEN BORDER (OmeU)

PL,CZ,F,B 2023 | Director: Agnieszka Holland | 152 min.
Cast: Jalal Altawil, Maja Ostaszewska, Behi Djanati Atai, Mohamad Al Rashi, Dalia Naous, Tomasz Włosok

Film and Lecture Series during the Summer Semester 2026

in cooperation with Max-Planck-Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law and the non-profit Human Right Association Just Access e.V.

Mon, 08.06., 20:00 hrs
discussed by Dana Schmalz (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law)

The violence behind the securitization of European borders

There has been much talk about the "instrumentalization of migrants" in European law - whether in the reforms of the Common European Asylum System or in cases before the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). Such instrumentalization of migrants is often described as part of a hybrid attack from a Belarus, a framing that easily omits the individual stories of the migrants involved. The movie "Green border" offers a glimpse into those individual stories. It portrays the violence at the border and the way this affects not only the lives of migrants but also of those involved in perpetrating the violence to "secure" European borders. The discussion will connect the scenes of the movie with current legal developments such as the new Crisis Regulation and the pending cases before the ECHR.

It will outline what European law prescribes regarding the treatment of migrants and what avenues exist to address violations of those laws as they are realistically portrayed in the movie.

The "green border" is a forest area between Belarus and Poland. On the run from war and terror, Bashir's family and the teacher Leila, respectively from Syria and Afghanistan, believe they can reach the EU through here. Instead, they become the victims of political scheming and propaganda. Their fates are intertwined with those of characters on the Polish side: Julia, who becomes an activist on impulse, and Jan, a young border guard.

A tender and angry film, told with profound humanity. In crystalline black-and-white, reminiscent of many major works of Polish cinema, Holland lays bare the drama of our present.(IFFMH)