Paradise without people

Taimaa, 25, and Nour, 23, never expected to give birth and raise children far from the homes they fled in Syria. We meet the two women in a hospital in Thessaloniki, Greece, and follow them as they experience the tender joys of motherhood and the painful frustrations of seeking asylum in Europe. At times poignant, tender and infuriating, this intimate examination of a new mother’s choices offers an unblinking look at what being an asylum-seeker is really like.

Paradise Without People is Francesca Trianni’s directorial debut, and the first documentary feature produced by TIME magazine. Working as a cinematographer with an all-female team, Trianni gained unique access to her subjects, who opened up about waiting for asylum, becoming a mother far from home, and how navigating an inflexible European resettlement program can strain a marriage.

In Paradise Without People, we are first-hand witnesses to how family bonds can be both fractured and fortified during a time of instability and crisis - and how those same bonds form the most basic architecture of what we call home. This immersive film is among the first to trace the birth of a stateless generation, and offers an unprecedented perspective on a global crisis.