“When you can’t go back”: Refugee film screening and discussion at the University of Padua

The Arqus Alliance and the University of Padua organise a screening of the film “When you can’t go back” on Thursday, 29 May (20:30 CEST).

This event is part of the bottom-up initiative “Arqus: an Alliance supporting refugees’ right to a qualified and unique study experience”, which aims to organise a day of reflection on refugee students at each partner university.

At Cinema Lux (Padua), project manager Elisa Gamba and film director Leonardo Cinieri Lombroso will present the documentary film “When you can’t go back”, a story about the life of a Syrian refugee student in Italy.

This event will start with a brief introduction on the integration of refugee students, followed by the screening of the film. The documentary follows the life of Obaida, a brilliant engineering student from Syria who arrived in Rome for a scholarship. He dreamed of being a singer, but the war changed his priorities. Obaida is alone, his family remained in Syria. When all is lost, starting all over again seems impossible. The film offers an intimate immersion in his reality, challenges, hopes and resilience.

Afterwards, a round table and an open discussion will deepen the issues raised by the documentary. Round table speakers include: 

• Leonardo Cinieri Lombroso, director of  “When you can’t go back” and “Refugee Girls”, the two films screened at the “Arqus: an Alliance supporting refugees” events
• Elisa Gamba, PhD candidate in Human Rights, Society, and Multi-level Governance, Human Rights Center, University of Padua, member of the Arqus Inclusion and Diversity Hub
• Margherita Colonnello, Councillor of Padua Municipality
• Matteo Bassoli, Associate Professor, Department of Political, Juridical and International Studies (SPGI), University of Padua, and co-founder of Refugees Welcome Italy

The event is open to the public and admission is free of charge.

Read more about this initiative here.

“Arqus: an Alliance supporting refugees’ right to a qualified and unique study experience” is one of the many ad hoc bottom-up initiatives financed by the Arqus Innovation Fund.