At Home in the World, by Andreas Koefoed, paints an unsentimental and visually evocative portrait of a Red Cross school for refugee children in Lynge, Denmark. Koefoed's observational approach renders young refugees from Bosnia, Syria, Afghanistan, and Chechnya as more than victims of war and displacement. The film's quiet close-ups, intimate access, and nuanced editing create a window into the experience of being a refugee, but the action of the story takes place in the classroom and schoolyard. Dorte, one of the teachers at the Red Cross school, works to make asylum seekers feel welcome. She embodies the generosity of—and challenges for—any country that accepts refugees. Eventually her students must transfer to regular Danish public schools, but until then, the Lynge school provides a safe haven for refugee kids and their families. Stories of prolonged escapes from violence, difficulties adapting to a new country, and risks of deportation accompany perceptive sequences of children just being kids.
