Twelve-year-old Ahmed's story is characterized by current topics in world politics: After a several year-long odyssey that started in civil war-ridden Iraq and continued in refugee camps in Syria 12-year-old Ahmed and his family are finally given asylum in the USA. Ahmed's father Jamal suffered a stroke while he was kidnapped and held hostage by Iraqi militias and has been wheelchair-bound since. His mother carries the burden of raising three children and caring for a disabled husband in a strange country all alone. Ahmed's everyday life in Dallas oscillates between moments of being a carefree teenager and the heavy burden of his personal fate, which forces him to grow up fast. Still, Ahmed dreams the American dream: He wants to learn English properly so he can study history at Harvard or Princeton. He still attends a special class for refugee children which seems like a melting pot for current crisis regions: His classmates are from Iraq, Somalia, Nepal - a reflection of world political conflicts. "You all bring the best parts of your culture to us" says Ahmed's teacher sympathetically. But the family's everyday struggle to finally become a part of American society shows how hard it really is to live the dream. Despite financial and personal support their life remains a fight for survival and Ahmed's world in Dallas seems to be as confined as it was in Damascus. Filmmaker Fritz Ofner empathetically documents the life of a refugee family in their fragile life situation - caught between longing for a long lost past and the hopes for a better future. Fritz Ofner was born in Styria in 1977 and studied ethnology and media studies in Vienna. Extensive travels through Asia, Africa and Latin America lead to his passion for documentary film making. At present he is finalizing his first feature length documentary called "The Evolution of Violence".
—Fritz Ofner