Drømmen om Danmark

Young Wasi came to Denmark when he was fifteen, having arrived alone from Afghanistan. Although he still has nightmares, he has found safety and friends in Denmark. He is in some ways like any other teenager: he cracks jokes, raps, and flirts with girls. But his application for asylum is rejected. When he turns 18, as he is aware that there is a risk to be sent back to Afghanistan, he leaves Denmark for Italy, hoping to obtain a residence permit that will later allow him to return legally to Copenhagen. But life in Italy is far from what Wasi has expected. He struggles to maintain life as a normal young man, but it is not easy to wait for a future that never gets started. Film-maker Michael Graversen, who followed Wasi for several years between Denmark and Italy, has managed to obtain remarkable access to Wasi’s life underground in Europe and followed him throughout his year-long struggle, not only for survival, but also for an identity outside his country of in the absence of a family. Dreaming of Denmark is a compelling insight into what happened to one of the many unaccompanied refugee children who disappear each year from Danish asylum centres. Many darker stories remain untold. (Doc Alliance Films)