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december

documentary 62min (2025)

The arrival of December destroys the current order. Along with snow and frost, it brings to Europe travellers, who are offered no gifts or welcome, and causes a battle between empathy and indifference. As December arrives, many are excited by the upcoming Christmas and year-end celebrations. But for those without shelter, who have no place to call home, it is the cruellest month. Refugees camped in the forests along the Poland-Belarus border remain invisible to much of the world. Grzegorz Paprzycki’s film juxtaposes scenes of people preparing for and enjoying the festive season with voices of hatred and hostility, exposing the chilling reality of so much indifference to the refugee crisis. But his primary focus is the refugees whose voices and cries seem to fall on deaf ears and whose presence, an inconvenience for some, is a sad reflection on our wider society. The film powerfully summons and confronts the refugee issue, compelling us to truly see it.

directed by
Grzegorz Paprzycki
director of photography
Grzegorz Paprzycki
producer
Maciej Kubicki, Piotr Śmiechowski
co-producer
Dagnė Vildžiūnaitė
producion
Telemark
co-coproduction
Just a Moment, Al Jazeera Documentary Channel
editor
Urszula Klimek-Piątek
sound design
Julius Grigelionis
music
Mikołaj Stroiński
photos