This is a documentary movie about the fate of Chechen asylum seekers in Europe.

“Nowhere in Europe” is a journey in four stories; a film on the effects European refugee policies have on four asylum seekers of the conflict in Chechnya and their families.

“Assalamu Alaykum, Europe” is the diary of the journalist, Ali (39), begins as he waits in Poland for a decision to be made on his asylum request. In his smoke-filled room at the refugee home he has more than enough time to record his observations and thoughts on both Europe and his own crisis of identity in exile. “The movie is about the refugees from the North Caucasus. Well, there is a little bit about me. The text behind the scenes, which I read in the film – it’s excerpts from my unfinished book. I think, that I will not have time to finish it. I’m sick and I have not so many days. I ask Allah about only one thing, that those days were sunny…,” says Ali about the movie.

Vakha (50) has been granted asylum as a political activist in Austria, but his son is being persecuted in Russia. He tries everything in his power to get him to Europe.

Tamara (55) lives with her husband and daughter in Vienna. Her handicapped daughter needs urgent medical attention, but the family is facing the threat of deportation. Ruslan (33) is stuck in the Ukraine. He has neither residence permit nor money. He hopes to be able to take his family to Western Europe soon.

Each of the protagonists has fled from Chechnya as their lives there were in danger. As asylum-seekers in Europe, they now face new problems: man vs. state machine. How do I prove that I am who I say I am? That what happened to me really did happen to me? And does anyone really care? While keeping close contact to the protagonists, the author documents their attempts to find a new place to live in Europe over the course of year, and with that, their hopes, fears and longing for a return to normality.

The movie was produced in 2009 and directed by Kerstin Nickig.