Synopsis

Filmmaker Batoul Karbijha uses the making of a film about her missing sister as a means of finding out what happened and to cope with this tremendous loss. For herself, for her family and for all families who have also lost loved ones on their way to a safer future.

On 24 August 2014, 20-year-old Maysoon Karbijha disappeared on the Mediterranean Sea. She was on her way from Syria to Europe when her boat capsized. Of the 712 people on board, 352 were rescued, 24 bodies were taken from the water by the Italian navy, and around 170 remaining people have been missing ever since. Maysoon is one of them.

Batoul’s search puts her on a trail that leads from Sicily through Tunisia to Libya, and confronts her with graveyards full of missing migrants, in a labyrinth of ignorance, indifference and powerlessness. The search also results in a confrontation with Batoul’s family. For years, they have not been able to talk about Maysoon and they silently refuse to accept that she may no longer be alive. Batoul hopes the search will make it possible to talk about Maysoon with her family. An intimate process in which loss, pain and hope prevail.