“Dear Muslim…” – thus begins a Chechen mother Satsita’s diary, which she writes for her four-year-old son, Muslim, so that he will one day understand what his parents experienced in the war in Chechnya.

Why they fled to Poland. And also, so that he will be able to find his way in an uncertain future, in which, as she believes, his parents may no longer be alive. Satsita, her husband Said-Selim and Muslim are sitting in their small room in the “Home for Asylum Seekers” in a provincial town in Eastern Poland, awaiting the decision of whether they will be granted asylum or not – in their hearts, they still haven’t even “arrived”: They are still deeply immersed in the past horrors of war which they have been documenting over the years with photos and video recordings.

The film was conceived during the director’s one-year study period at the State Film Academy in Lódz together with Alicja Pahl, a student of cinematography, and a German-Polish team. During filming, the director and camerawoman spent more than six months in close contact with the protagonists in the “Home for Asylum Seekers” (Zajazd Zacisze) in the Eastern Polish town of Łomża.

Original Title: “Lieber Muslim…”
Country of Origin: Germany/Polland
Year : 2005
Duration: 35 Min
Director: Kerstin Nickig
Script: Kerstin Nickig
Camera: Alicja Pahl, Kerstin Nickig
Editing: Kerstin Nickig, Cecylja Pacura
Sound Mix: Teresa Stepien
Music: Christoph Vonderau
Starring/Featuring: Satsita Chumaidova, Said-Selim and Muslim Abumuslimov
Production: timeprints Film, DIPOL-Film, Michael Truckenbrodt, Kerstin Nickig
Festivals: 2005: One World Berlin (D)
Awards: 2006: Best Short Film Award, One World International Documentary Film Festival Prague (CZ); FIPRESCI Award, Special Mention, International Film Festival Cracow (PL); 2005: Deutscher Kurzfilm-Förderpreis, Europäische Kurzfilmbiennale, Ludwigsburg (D)