Wadim K. grew up in Germany. He spoke German, had German friends, and even felt German. But Wadim never received a German passport, because he arrived in Hamburg together with his family as a refugee. 13 years later the public authorities seek to deport the family. This night-time assignment ends disastrously with Wadim’s mother cutting her wrists and his father detained. Wadim is 18 years old and finds himself being deported to Latvia – a country he can hardly remember. He spends the next five years fighting for a new existence. During his final, illegal visit to Hamburg, in January 2010, Wadim throws himself in front of a train. He is 23 years old. The 90-minute film, WADIM, pieces together the mosaic of a short life, representative of the lives led by 87,000 other people with only a provisional status to stay, their existence merely tolerated in Germany. Through photos and very personal family videos as well as interviews with Wadim’s parents, friends, his first love and other contemporary witnesses, viewers put together their own idea of how the family fell apart, how the boy changes from a happy child, who goes to school and plays bassoon, to a character driven away from his home to end up in a Latvian shelter for the homeless, no longer able to hold out against his own fears and concerns.
Note: the trailer is in German but the full film has English subtitles.

Price $3.99