Anya (Straight Stories - Part 2)

It is snowing in Istanbul. A passenger on a ship gazes out towards the dark wharf. A gloomy silhouette speeds homewards, or is he perhaps following the call of the fragments of music drifting over the water? The ship sails on for minutes, first to starboard and then to port, and then it weighs anchor. Bobbing in the current, it comes no closer to the coast. We hear a young woman telling of her escape from Iraq and her desire to get to an uncle in Australia, but she has come no further than Turkey. She has been waiting for a visa for 12 years -- tethered, but still boundlessly optimistic. This is the sequel to the short video , screened as part of Paradocs in 2007, which features young migrants talking about the journeys across the border that they dream about. Land in sight, but out of reach.