#053kids

“It doesn't matter how high you fly with the biggest wings you have, but remember that your soul is still trapped in the roots in the ground where you fell and you were so small and so empty.” ― Neymat Khan This is a long-term documentary about teenage life, social injustice and questions about own identity and belonging. While kids often neither know their parents‘ home country nor feel accepted in Germany, they use the digits 053 of the postcode of Duisburg-Hochfeld for identification. It's the only place they really feel belonging to. These are the 053kids. You see as many Germany flags in Hochfeld as Antifa-graffiti. It is often unclear whether the flags are hung by migrants as a deliberate sign of the will to integrate, or by the last remaining old Germans as a sign of demarcation. These teenagers have German passports, speak local dialect but do not see themselves as German. In Hochfeld 93% of those under 18 are from immigrant families. In a violent environment controlled by Arab clans, Eastern European extended families and biker gangs, there is a daily struggle for legal and illegal resources. Prostitution, drug and arms trafficking show the supposedly fast money to the teenagers daily and make growing up here very difficult. These children were transplanted so often that they could not take roots. But they are good kids, let them become strong trees anyway!