By Kseniya Halubovich

I Made a Mistake Coming Here

Impact days 2023 Movie

November 2021, Belarus. Thousands of people from the Middle East have come in the hope of crossing the border into the European Union. Alexander Lukashenko, the country’s leader, “invited” them in order to create a migratory crisis at the EU borders. One Kurdish family decides not to risk their life and to apply for political asylum in Europe, helped by three Belarusian volunteers. These young women – an entrepreneur, a geologist and a journalist – do everything to make the family’s life better and risk their own safety to support them. While they discuss filial love together, homeland, culture and hope for freedom, arbitrary arrests become a daily occurrence in Belarus, and the three women are also forced to start contemplating exile.

Countries : Belarus, Ukraine, Poland
Original languages : Russian, Belarusian, English, Arabic, Kurdish
Director
Kseniya Halubovich (Belarus)
Producers
Daniel Schneider (Switzerland)
Louis Beaudemont (France)
Esther van Messel (Switzerland)
First Hand Films
Les Steppes Productions
Duration
80'
Production status
Late development
Completion
January 2025
Impact Statement
This is a film about exiled people and the state's violence against them. It's also a film about Belarus, a country whose dictatorship is gradually sinking into a totalitarianism that the international community has yet to grasp. It’s a tribute to the migrants of yesterday, today and tomorrow. It is also a tool to highlight the cynical position of the leaders of dictatorships and also democratic states towards refugees, who are used as geopolitical weapons.