IDFA: Save Our Souls - Jean-Baptiste Bonnet

Fleeing at sea

Floating on the Mediterranean Sea, aid workers from the French aid organisation SOS Méditerranée gaze at the horizon. Do they see a rubber dinghy in the distance? Or is it waste? The organisation sails off the coast of Libya to receive boats with refugees. A team of 30 people is on the ship Ocean Viking ready to provide first aid and help with asylum procedures. With a simple camera, filmmaker Jean-Baptiste Bonnet records the events on board for 6 weeks, from departure to arrival. Soon, a group of 92 people of various nationalities are taken on board from a rickety boat. They are given life jackets, there are blankets, beds and water. The aid workers then start recording their often terrifying stories of escape. It will be weeks before the destination, the northern Italian coast, is reached. In the meantime, the refugees help with cooking, experiences and photos are shared, and daily life almost seems to become normal in this beautifully filmed ode to humanity.