By Seyed Reza Saeemi – Film Critic
A Look at the Documentary Lost Whispers in the Distance
[This article was published on the Iranian IRAN newspaper 10th August 2022] Link to the article: Full article in Persian
Lost Whispers in the Distance may have a poetic title for a social documentary, but traces of tragedy are evident in it—revealing the film’s perspective on the subject of migration. Migration, which today is transitioning from being an exception to a widespread phenomenon, inevitably brings with it a broader range of consequences. Clearly, “migration” is not inherently a negative term or action—in fact, even religious sources sometimes emphasize its necessity and positive functions. However, this documentary focuses on a type of migration rooted in unrealistic and ill-considered dreams, which, contrary to the migrants’ hopes, turns from a liberating experience into one of captivity.
Although economic hardship and livelihood crises are the primary drivers behind the rising desire to migrate in our country, equally significant are the misinformation and fantastical dreams about life beyond the borders. These illusions lead migrants into naïve expectations that often result in hardship and peril—as shown in the documentary, where they are left stranded with no place to belong. The destination becomes not a better life but a state of confusion and disillusionment.
Lost Whispers in the Distance approaches the subject not abstractly but with a concrete, grounded focus on people who now live in the limbo of migration. They have fled their homelands without reaching their destination, suspended in uncertainty on the soil of a transitional country, enduring harsh and unstable living conditions. “Jafar” and “Mozaffar” are the main characters through whom we come to know the precarious and unsettled lives of migrants in Šid, Serbia—people who arrived through illegal immigration and human traffickers and now face an uncertain future.
The film opens with a city road sign on a winter highway and ends with a frame of displaced migrants trekking through snowy paths toward Europe. These two snowy, wintry scenes are symbolic indicators of the bleak, cold reality these migrants face—experiencing lives marked by hardship and ambiguity. In the closing credits, we learn that not only did these migrants fail to reach their destination, but some were also arrested by Croatian police and transferred to a refugee camp in Šid, Serbia—a bitter and uncertain fate intertwined with homelessness and displacement.
The documentary presents stark and disturbing images of these migrants’ lives—many of whom are from Afghanistan—living in half-constructed buildings with minimal facilities. If we think of migration as having three parts—origin country, the journey, and destination—the film focuses on the middle ground of this process: the transitional journey and the temporary halts along the way. It captures the tragic limbo in which migrants find themselves. It’s as if the camera, too, is one of the migrants—caught in this uncertain, disoriented state and reflecting it through the film’s mise-en-scène.
In essence, the film portrays the lives of a group of Iranian and Afghan asylum seekers in a small Serbian town, all hoping to cross into Europe for a better life. These refugees speak about the future they imagine for themselves. The filmmaker deliberately maintains emotional and narrative distance from the subjects, avoiding the imposition of personal judgment—allowing the images and interviews to speak for themselves and present the truth.
In this sense, the film becomes a visual report on the legal and illegal refugee camps in Serbia, documenting these conditions as a kind of cinematic evidence, conveying the logic and reality of the documentary form. The film’s narrative style and camera perspective ultimately produce a visually painful atmosphere, evoking the sorrow of exile—a feeling the audience can deeply experience through the scenes.
Perhaps the most important feature of Lost Whispers in the Distance is its refusal to judge or take a clear position toward its subjects. Instead, it adopts a reportage tone, allowing the gap between the dream of migration and the reality of it to emerge organically through the images and interviews—without the use of narration. This artistic strategy enhances the film’s credibility and documentary logic.
Ultimately, Lost Whispers in the Distance uses an observational approach to speak about the suffering and misunderstandings surrounding migration. It persuades through truthfulness, not exaggeration.
