Moria Six
Jennifer Mallmann
It was Europe’s largest refugee camp, hopelessly overcrowded and infamous for its catastrophic condition. In September 2020, the Moria Refugee Camp on the Greek island Lesbos was destroyed by a fire. Six young asylum seekers were accused of arson and arrested. But the only witness who allegedly saw the young Afghan men never appeared in court – only one of many inconsistencies surrounding an almost unknown judicial scandal.
In her diploma film Moria Six, director Jennifer Mallmann addresses the practices of European isolation policy. She shows illegal pushbacks and new gigantic maximum security camps where refugees are locked up like criminals. She also gets in touch with Hassan, one of the young people detained, and speaks to his lawyers. From the Greek authorities’ questionable actions to the European Union’s refugee policy at the base of it all – Jennifer Mallmann confronts the global denial in calm, impressive images and exposes the dehumanization at Europe’s outer borders.
26 April 2025
17:00 h, Kino des DFF
More information
| Direction | Jennifer Mallmann |
| Country | Deutschland |
| Year | 2024 |
| Duration | 82 min |
| Language | Greek, Farsi, German, English with English subtitles |
| Language version | OmU |
| Production | Matthias Drescher |
| Camera | Sina Diehl |
| Script | Jennifer Mallmann |
| Editing | Maxie Borchert |
| Sound | Vincent Egerter |
| Music | Clemens Gutjahr |
| Sound Design | Timo Kleinemeier |
DEFA Sponsoring Prize at DOK Leipzig 2024; Film Prize Leipziger Ring by Stiftung Friedliche Revolution
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About the director
Jennifer Mallmann studied “Motion Pictures” at the University of Applied Sciences Darmstadt and specialised in Documentary Film at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, which she graduated with a diploma in 2024. In her artistic work, she intensively explores human rights issues. In 2020, she received a stipend for the Summer School of the Global Campus of Human Rights in Venice, which took place in collaboration with La Biennale di Venezia. Two years later, she was awarded the renowned Deutschlandstipendium. Moria Six is her first feature-length documentary film.
Jennifer Mallmann about the film
“Not being heard or seen is unbearable because it questions our humanity. People who are neither seen nor heard are victims of an oppression that renders them invisible and voiceless and ultimately dehumanizes them. In December 2021, I wrote to six young people who were detained in a Greek prison. They all undertook a dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to seek protection in Europe.
In 2020, the camp in which they lived was destroyed by a fire. They were accused of starting the fire in Moria. The lack of evidence seemed irrelevant in court. I wrote to them that I had heard about their trial and was interested in their perspective. One week later, Hassan, one of the young people, called me. He said I was the first person to ask him about his point of view. This was the beginning of a long correspondence between Hassan and me, through which I could get to know a part of his world – a world full of longing and pain.”
IN ATTENDENCE OF THE DIRECTOR
Future German Cinema
