Michał Wawrykiewicz

In Poland, judicial independence has been under serious pressure since the right-wing Law and Justice party (PiS) came to power. Judges whose rulings are not to the government’s liking are at risk of being fired or arrested. The new government portrays judges as elitist and incompetent at best, and at worst as dissidents.

In the treacherous and swampy forests that make up the so called “green border” between Belarus and Poland, refugees from the Middle East and Africa trying to reach the European Union are trapped in a geopolitical crisis cynically engineered by Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko. In an attempt to provoke Europe, refugees are lured to the border by propaganda promising easy passage to the EU. Pawns in this hidden war, the lives of Julia, a newly minted activist who has given up her comfortable life, Jan, a young border guard, and a Syrian family intertwine.