Teenaged siblings Lohan and Samar, with their family of 14, have fled the war in Syria and the Islamic State to settle in Germany. While each member of the family struggles to find their place in this new country, Lohan and Samar have found a growing freedom to express themselves as transgender. As they don makeup and style their hair, they emerge into their new world with radiant and soaring sprits—but internally, a larger conflict looms. Over three years, directors Laurentia Genske and Robin Humboldt follow the family, revealing the moral conflicts Lohan and Samar face between their faith and family and their desires to live freely and authentically. While familial love is at the centre of this family, the parents still feel the mounting pressures of their own religious and cultural beliefs. Caught between the stricter Muslim ideology and the fear they will be judged as bad parents by their watchful neighbours, they run the risk of pushing their daughters away. Heather Haynes
Co-presented with The 519
World Showcase program sponsored by
