hold on to her
- Runtime80 min
- DirectorRobin Vanbesien
- GenreDocumentary
- Released2024
Robin Vanbesien’s hold on to her traces a lived social infrastructure of care, solidarity and struggle that addresses a recent case of police and state violence in the context of migration border control in Belgium.
In 2018, two year-old Mawda Shawri, daughter of Phrast and Shamden and sister to Hama, was shot dead by a Belgian police officer during a car chase on a central highway. In 2023, over 40 people, both undocumented and documented resident activists, assembled before the camera at La Voix des sans papiers in Brussels to stage a collective hearing of documents from and reactions to Mawda’s case. Together they produce the counter-forensic evidence of this deadly Channel crossing.
with | AÏSTA BAH | MARCUS BERGNER | THIERNO DIA | HENRIETTE ESSAMI-KHAULLOT | MIRRA MARKHAEVA | LÀZARA ROSELL ALBEAR | NAOMI VAN KLEEF | KHALED ZEAD
A film by ROBIN VANBESIEN
Producers STEVEN DHOEDT | ROBIN VANBESIEN
A VISUALANTICS production
a co-production with TIMELY | in collaboration with LA VOIX DES SANS PAPIERS BRUXELLES
supported by FLANDERS AUDIOVISUAL FUND (VAF) I THE TAX SHELTER OF THE BELGIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THROUGH FLANDERS TAX SHELTER| FLEMISH COMMUNITY COMMISSION (VGC) | ATELIER GRAPHOUI | ARTS CENTRE VIERNULVIER | SINT-LUCAS ANTWERP
international sales FILMOTOR
screenings
in the media
ScreenDaily | Ben Dalton
“I immediately felt the urgency of Mawda Shawri’s case,” said Michaela Cajkova, head of Filmotor, who added she was “captivated by the artistic approach of Robin.”
read the full articlePompidou | Chantal Pattyn
In 2018 kwam de Koerdische peuter Mawda Shawri om het leven toen de politie een groep vluchtelingen achtervolgde. De zaak beroert nog altijd de gemoederen en staat ook centraal in de tentoonstelling Holding Rehearsals van filmmaker Robin Vanbesien in La Loge.
Listen to the full interview (in Dutch)Middle East Eye | Joseph Fahim
The end result is a perceptive account of societal apathy towards underprivileged lives: a provocative study of how self-righteous states rationalise their racism through the legal system and corrupt press.
read the full articleDe Standaard | Ruben Aerts
Beelden van het landschap als een stille getuige geven dit werkstuk een passende poëtische soberheid. Vanbesien bewijst dat ook de documentaire vorm een grote vrijheid toelaat.
read the full article (in Dutch)Journey Into Cinema | Redmond Bacon
Rigorous but rarely difficult, hold on to her excellently combines testimony from migrants and activists with footage of the highway on which it occurred, creating a moving exploration of how these events aren’t the exception but the very product of an unjust system.
read the full reviewDeMorgen | Lieven Trio
Vanbesien maakt niet gewoon een reconstructie van de zaak-Mawda, maar kiest voor een meer poëtische, menselijke benadering.
read the full article (in Dutch)Berlinale | Press Office
hold on to her by Robin Vanbesien focuses on self-organisation in the fight against government misconduct.
read the full articleGalatta Plus TV | Baradwaj Rangan
In this interview, Robin Vanbesien, talks about his film, ‘hold on to her’, difference in telling a story though fiction form and documentary form, how the documentary format has evolved over the years and the tragic incidents involving police violence.
watch the full interview here-
- 2024
- Berlinale Forum Expanded
- World Premiere
- Runtime80 min
- DirectorRobin Vanbesien
- GenreDocumentary
- Released2024
in the media
ScreenDaily | Ben Dalton
“I immediately felt the urgency of Mawda Shawri’s case,” said Michaela Cajkova, head of Filmotor, who added she was “captivated by the artistic approach of Robin.”
read the full articlePompidou | Chantal Pattyn
In 2018 kwam de Koerdische peuter Mawda Shawri om het leven toen de politie een groep vluchtelingen achtervolgde. De zaak beroert nog altijd de gemoederen en staat ook centraal in de tentoonstelling Holding Rehearsals van filmmaker Robin Vanbesien in La Loge.
Listen to the full interview (in Dutch)Middle East Eye | Joseph Fahim
The end result is a perceptive account of societal apathy towards underprivileged lives: a provocative study of how self-righteous states rationalise their racism through the legal system and corrupt press.
read the full articleDe Standaard | Ruben Aerts
Beelden van het landschap als een stille getuige geven dit werkstuk een passende poëtische soberheid. Vanbesien bewijst dat ook de documentaire vorm een grote vrijheid toelaat.
read the full article (in Dutch)Journey Into Cinema | Redmond Bacon
Rigorous but rarely difficult, hold on to her excellently combines testimony from migrants and activists with footage of the highway on which it occurred, creating a moving exploration of how these events aren’t the exception but the very product of an unjust system.
read the full reviewDeMorgen | Lieven Trio
Vanbesien maakt niet gewoon een reconstructie van de zaak-Mawda, maar kiest voor een meer poëtische, menselijke benadering.
read the full article (in Dutch)Berlinale | Press Office
hold on to her by Robin Vanbesien focuses on self-organisation in the fight against government misconduct.
read the full articleGalatta Plus TV | Baradwaj Rangan
In this interview, Robin Vanbesien, talks about his film, ‘hold on to her’, difference in telling a story though fiction form and documentary form, how the documentary format has evolved over the years and the tragic incidents involving police violence.
watch the full interview here