hold on to her

  • Runtime80 min
  • DirectorRobin Vanbesien
  • GenreDocumentary
  • Released2024

Robin Vanbesien’s hold on to her traces a lived social infrastructure of care, solidarity and struggle that addresses a recent case of police and state violence in the context of migration border control in Belgium.

In 2018, two year-old Mawda Shawri, daughter of Phrast and Shamden and sister to Hama, was shot dead by a Belgian police officer during a car chase on a central highway. In 2023, over 40 people, both undocumented and documented resident activists, assembled before the camera at La Voix des sans papiers in Brussels to stage a collective hearing of documents from and reactions to Mawda’s case. Together they produce the counter-forensic evidence of this deadly Channel crossing.

with | AÏSTA BAH | MARCUS BERGNER | THIERNO DIA | HENRIETTE ESSAMI-KHAULLOT | MIRRA MARKHAEVA | LÀZARA ROSELL ALBEAR | NAOMI VAN KLEEF | KHALED ZEAD

A film by ROBIN VANBESIEN

Producers STEVEN DHOEDT | ROBIN VANBESIEN

Director of Photography DIREN AGBABA | Editor ROBIN VANBESIEN | Sound design BORIS DEBACKERE | Mixing THOMAS FERRANDO | colourist LENNERT DE TAEYE | graphic designer GODA BUDVYTYTE

A VISUALANTICS production

a co-production with TIMELY | in collaboration with LA VOIX DES SANS PAPIERS BRUXELLES

supported by FLANDERS AUDIOVISUAL FUND (VAF) I THE TAX SHELTER OF THE BELGIAN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT THROUGH FLANDERS TAX SHELTER| FLEMISH COMMUNITY COMMISSION (VGC) | ATELIER GRAPHOUI | ARTS CENTRE VIERNULVIER | SINT-LUCAS ANTWERP

international sales FILMOTOR

Open Image

screenings

in the media

photogénie | Emily Jisoo Bowles

hold on to her’s diligent formalism communicates its thorny complexities with seething eloquence. It’s less a reminder than a call to action: we need to hold on to each other, and to our rage that keeps us going.

read the full review

Beyond Gaming | Aeyenah

Als je goed luistert, opent deze film je ogen voor aspecten waar je misschien nog nooit bij hebt stilgestaan. Uiteindelijk draait het om luisteren, echt luisteren.

read the full review (in Dutch)

Fantômas | Gilles Vandaele

hold on to her (is) geen suggestie om Mawda nog even vast te houden, maar om haar verhaal tot ons te laten doordringen en nooit meer los te laten.

read the full review (in Dutch)

Delightful Docs | anonymous

This collective hearing is supported by Vanbesien’s audiovisual grammar, which foregrounds the opaque and the poetic. Given the inability to proceed within the dominant frameworks and the urge to imagine other possible worlds, this collective hearing challenges what is visible and audible.

Listen to the full interview

Spotlight | Louise

Van Besien skillfully interweaves poetic vocal performances with sober reports of racist violence. He plays with light and darkness and the speakers acknowledge a ghostly haunting they feel since the murdering of Mawda, especially because of the pain that no justice is done.

read the full review

Limassol Today | Anthi Ermogenous

Mawda’s death stands out due to the blatant lies and cover-ups by the police and judiciary, and because it involved a two-year-old girl. However, her death is not exceptional; it is the result of a structural situation where the Channel border is governed by deadly state sovereignty, deciding who may live and who must die.

read the full article

ScreenDaily | Ben Dalton

“I immediately felt the urgency of Mawda Shawri’s case,” said Michaela Cajkova, head of Filmotor, who added she was “captivated by the artistic approach of Robin.”

read the full article

Pompidou | Chantal Pattyn

In 2018 kwam de Koerdische peuter Mawda Shawri om het leven toen de politie een groep vluchtelingen achtervolgde. De zaak beroert nog altijd de gemoederen en staat ook centraal in de tentoonstelling Holding Rehearsals van filmmaker Robin Vanbesien in La Loge.

Listen to the full interview (in Dutch)

Middle East Eye | Joseph Fahim

The end result is a perceptive account of societal apathy towards underprivileged lives: a provocative study of how self-righteous states rationalise their racism through the legal system and corrupt press.

read the full article

De Standaard | Ruben Aerts

Beelden van het landschap als een stille getuige geven dit werkstuk een passende poëtische soberheid. Vanbesien bewijst dat ook de documentaire vorm een grote vrijheid toelaat.

read the full article (in Dutch)

Journey Into Cinema | Redmond Bacon

Rigorous but rarely difficult, hold on to her excellently combines testimony from migrants and activists with footage of the highway on which it occurred, creating a moving exploration of how these events aren’t the exception but the very product of an unjust system.

read the full review

DeMorgen | Lieven Trio

Vanbesien maakt niet gewoon een reconstructie van de zaak-Mawda, maar kiest voor een meer poëtische, menselijke benadering.

read the full article (in Dutch)

Berlinale | Press Office

hold on to her by Robin Vanbesien focuses on self-organisation in the fight against government misconduct.

read the full article

Galatta Plus TV | Baradwaj Rangan

In this interview, Robin Vanbesien, talks about his film, ‘hold on to her’, difference in telling a story though fiction form and documentary form, how the documentary format has evolved over the years and the tragic incidents involving police violence.

watch the full interview here
    • 2024
    • Human Rights Film Festival Zagreb
    • Official Selection
    • 2024
    • Rome International Documentary Festival
    • Best Sound Award| International Competition
    • 2024
    • Ethnofest Athens
    • Official Selection
    • 2024
    • Exground Filmfest 37
    • Official Selection
    • 2024
    • 41. Kassel Dokfest
    • Official Selection
    • 2024
    • 51st International Film Festival Gent
    • Official Competition
    • 2024
    • St.Moritz Art Film Festival
    • Official Competition
    • 2024
    • Lemesos International Documentary Festival
    • Official Selection
    • 2024
    • Berlinale Forum Expanded
    • World Premiere
  • Runtime80 min
  • DirectorRobin Vanbesien
  • GenreDocumentary
  • Released2024

screenings

in the media

photogénie | Emily Jisoo Bowles

hold on to her’s diligent formalism communicates its thorny complexities with seething eloquence. It’s less a reminder than a call to action: we need to hold on to each other, and to our rage that keeps us going.

read the full review

Beyond Gaming | Aeyenah

Als je goed luistert, opent deze film je ogen voor aspecten waar je misschien nog nooit bij hebt stilgestaan. Uiteindelijk draait het om luisteren, echt luisteren.

read the full review (in Dutch)

Fantômas | Gilles Vandaele

hold on to her (is) geen suggestie om Mawda nog even vast te houden, maar om haar verhaal tot ons te laten doordringen en nooit meer los te laten.

read the full review (in Dutch)

Delightful Docs | anonymous

This collective hearing is supported by Vanbesien’s audiovisual grammar, which foregrounds the opaque and the poetic. Given the inability to proceed within the dominant frameworks and the urge to imagine other possible worlds, this collective hearing challenges what is visible and audible.

Listen to the full interview

Spotlight | Louise

Van Besien skillfully interweaves poetic vocal performances with sober reports of racist violence. He plays with light and darkness and the speakers acknowledge a ghostly haunting they feel since the murdering of Mawda, especially because of the pain that no justice is done.

read the full review

Limassol Today | Anthi Ermogenous

Mawda’s death stands out due to the blatant lies and cover-ups by the police and judiciary, and because it involved a two-year-old girl. However, her death is not exceptional; it is the result of a structural situation where the Channel border is governed by deadly state sovereignty, deciding who may live and who must die.

read the full article

ScreenDaily | Ben Dalton

“I immediately felt the urgency of Mawda Shawri’s case,” said Michaela Cajkova, head of Filmotor, who added she was “captivated by the artistic approach of Robin.”

read the full article

Pompidou | Chantal Pattyn

In 2018 kwam de Koerdische peuter Mawda Shawri om het leven toen de politie een groep vluchtelingen achtervolgde. De zaak beroert nog altijd de gemoederen en staat ook centraal in de tentoonstelling Holding Rehearsals van filmmaker Robin Vanbesien in La Loge.

Listen to the full interview (in Dutch)

Middle East Eye | Joseph Fahim

The end result is a perceptive account of societal apathy towards underprivileged lives: a provocative study of how self-righteous states rationalise their racism through the legal system and corrupt press.

read the full article

De Standaard | Ruben Aerts

Beelden van het landschap als een stille getuige geven dit werkstuk een passende poëtische soberheid. Vanbesien bewijst dat ook de documentaire vorm een grote vrijheid toelaat.

read the full article (in Dutch)

Journey Into Cinema | Redmond Bacon

Rigorous but rarely difficult, hold on to her excellently combines testimony from migrants and activists with footage of the highway on which it occurred, creating a moving exploration of how these events aren’t the exception but the very product of an unjust system.

read the full review

DeMorgen | Lieven Trio

Vanbesien maakt niet gewoon een reconstructie van de zaak-Mawda, maar kiest voor een meer poëtische, menselijke benadering.

read the full article (in Dutch)

Berlinale | Press Office

hold on to her by Robin Vanbesien focuses on self-organisation in the fight against government misconduct.

read the full article

Galatta Plus TV | Baradwaj Rangan

In this interview, Robin Vanbesien, talks about his film, ‘hold on to her’, difference in telling a story though fiction form and documentary form, how the documentary format has evolved over the years and the tragic incidents involving police violence.

watch the full interview here