Karolina Markiewicz
& Pascal Piron

My identity is this expanse

VR experience, 2020

My Identity Is This Expanse! is a virtual reality film and installation telling the story of a child, resilient to despair, seeking relief through memories, imagination, and the strength of poetry. Mahmoud Darwish’s poem If I Were Another is both the child‘s and the viewer’s entrance into this realm of relief and resilience.
Combined with the memory of a missing mother and family, the poem guides and sustains the child amidst the grueling reality of exile, violence, and confinement to a wooden box — both a hiding place and mode of transport for refugee children.
The journey is based on the true story of Yunus Yusuf, who came from Afghanistan to Luxembourg at the age of 13. It is also the story of millions of other refugee children and adults, both today and throughout history.

We are honoured to have had the oportunity to colaborate with VR artist Tamiko Thiel, responsible for the dream sequences in My identity is this expanse.

Production Companies: a_BAHN, Zeilt
Producers: Marion Guth, François Le Gall, Laurent Witz
Voices: Elisabet Johannesdottir, Jules Werner, Pitt Simon, Catherine Elsen, Lara Windeshausen, Christina Khoury, Ben Andrews, Eddie Hudson
With the support of: Film Fund Luxembourg