Mohajer (Camp-e-forsat)

Anna Knappe, Amir Jan, Laura Böök

HD video, 21 min

2016

Mohajer (Camp-e-forsat) is video projection about the experiences and struggles of Afghans born and living in exile. The film was shot in an asylum seeker reception center in Forssa, a small industrial town in Finland, together with a group of Hazara asylum seekers who had recently arrived in Finland. Mohajer (Camp-e-forsat) is a video portrait of the people, but also of the camp, an old hotel which was used as a reception center for asylum seekers in autumn 2015.

The film combines images of the empty hotel with the voices of its temporary residents.  The narrators are trying to define the word mohajer - a Persian word translating as both migrant, refugee and traveller - and what it means to them to be one. The contradicting stories and definitions highlight the diversity of the different experiences, making it impossible to define who is a legitimate mohajer. Applying asylum in Finland represents a new beginning in life, an opportunity, or forsat in Persian, but also difficulties in terms of integration and identity.