Mein Totemtier & ich

In the organizer's words:

Eleven-year-old Ama is passionate about swimming and is eagerly awaiting the upcoming championships with her best friend Thijs. The two spend every free minute in their favorite place in Rotterdam - the swimming pool. Ama's family has come to the Netherlands from Senegal and is hoping for asylum. But because their application has not been processed, the family is now threatened with deportation. Yet Ama feels Dutch through and through. When the police take Ama's mother and brother away one evening, Ama just manages to hide. While the police search for her, the girl sets off in search of her father. She can also rely on the help of Thijs. And then suddenly there's this huge spiky animal, invisible to everyone except Ama.
This moving immigration story was awarded the KIJUKO Film Prize by the children's jury at the Bremen Children's & Youth Film Festival KIJUKO in 2023.

KIJUKO Film Award 2023: We think it's important that topics such as racism and asylum are also discussed in a children's film and that the movie gives us an insight into what it's like for people to have to live without papers. We also liked how the film mixes real life with fantasy and emphasizes the importance of friendship, mutual trust and family cohesion. (Laudation of the children's jury of the KIJUKO Film Festival 2023)

What we liked about the movie is that it tells us that a passport doesn't tell you who you are. We think it's important that people with a migration background and POCs can recognize themselves. It has many important messages: No matter where you come from or what you believe in, you are important and unique...(MAJA Film Award of the MICHEL Jury 2023 Hamburg)