Filmed in 2024, as the Netherlands was hardening its stance towards asylum seekers, this short documentary follows Abdulaal Hussein, a Sudanese refugee, as he travels the country and holds ‘ask me anything’ sessions with clubs and groups. In these forums, locals – most of them white and native-born – are given the freedom to ask him whatever they’d like about his perspective and life, with Hussein insisting that ‘No question is mean or crazy or inappropriate.’ Observing these meetings as they unfold, the Dutch director Wyneke van Nieuwenhuyzen captures Hussein fielding questions with openness and honesty, his warmth and eloquence seeming to win over each room. She also provides glimpses of Hussein’s life beyond the sessions, allowing us to see him as more than just a spokesperson for refugees.
In doing so, more subtle questions emerge about the power dynamics at play: who we are, who we have the right to be, and what we have the right to ask in any given room. Directed by Niklas von Klitzing and Leo Stolz
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