When Paul Came Over the Sea
- Awarded the Gerd Ruge Grant by the Film und Medien Stiftung Nordrhein-Westfalen (2011)
- Best Pitch at the Netherlands Production Platform (2012)
- Haghefilm International Prize at the Netherlands Production Platform Work-in-Progress (2013)
- Main Prize at Docu Days UA (2017)
- Best Documentary at Shanghai Int. Film Festival (2017)
Paul has made his way from his home in Cameroon across the Sahara to the Moroccan coast where he now lives in a forest waiting for the right moment to cross the Mediterranean. This is where he meets Jakob, a filmmaker from Berlin, who is filming along Europe's borders. Soon afterwards, Paul manages to cross over to Spain on a rubber boat. He survives - but half of his companions die on this tragic 50 hour odyssey. Held for two months in a deportation centre, upon his release Paul meets Jakob again at a shelter for migrants in Southern Spain. When Paul decides to continue on to Germany, Jakob has to make a choice: will he become an active part of Paul's pursuit of a better life or remain a detached documentary filmmaker?
Team Partner
Jakob Preuss, director