Film Forum

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, GREEN BORDER immediately drew controversy from the Polish government for its depiction of the European migrant crisis on the Poland-Belarus border. Shot in stark black-and-white, this riveting thriller explores the intractable conflict from multiple perspectives: a Syrian family fleeing ISIS caught between cruel border guards in both countries; young guards instructed to brutally reject the migrants; and activists who, at great risk, aid the refugees. Holland (EUROPA EUROPA) brings an unflinching eye and deep compassion to this blistering critique of a humanitarian calamity that continues to unfold.

2023     152 MIN.     POLAND / FRANCE / CZECH REPUBLIC / BELGIUM     KINO LORBER
IN POLISH, ARABIC, ENGLISH & FRENCH WITH ENGLISH SUBTITLES

Reviews

“Profoundly moving, flawlessly executed.”
– Leslie Felperin, The Hollywood Reporter

“Bruisingly powerful... wraps its social critique in the razor wire of punchy, intelligent cinematic craft.”
– Jessica Kiang, Variety

“A stunning, harrowing film. [This] devastating refugee epic reverberates with deep empathy and quiet fury.”
– Phil de Semlyen, Time Out

“Shot in black and white and inflected at various points with subjective nightmare imagery (Holland has said that everything in the film has been carefully researched and fact checked)… Holland is not merely depicting a wide range of attitudes and behaviors around the migrant crisis: She is showing us a politically effective and humane way to act. What is most extraordinary about the film is that it insists on hope—not out of sentimentality but as a discipline. Generous as that action is, GREEN BORDER lays bare, with heartrending clarity, how solidarity is shaped along lines of race...”
– Amy Taubin, Artforum