Reise der Hoffnung

This is the story of a Turkish couple, Haydar and Meryem, who start their “Journey of Hope” from a small village in the mountains of South-East Turkey in September 1988. They are taking their 7 year-old son Mehmet Ali, who is the brightest of their eight children. It is a journey which is meant to take them from their poor country into rich Switzerland. The family has sold their house and their farm in order to finance the journey into what is supposed to be Paradise. The fist stop on the long journey is Izmir, where they stowaway on a freighter to Genoa. Once in Italy, they are taken by smugglers to the Splügenpass and sent on towards Switzerland, despite the snow and the cold. This illegal immigration has a tragic end: the Turkish boy dies of exhaustion and cold, in his father's arms.