Those Who Feel the Fire Burning - True/False Film Fest
True/False Film Fest March 5-8, 2026 at Columbia, MO

Those Who Feel the Fire Burning

This poetic work soars high following the lives of refugees who make their way to the beckoning lands of Europe.
Director: Morgan Knibbe
Runtime: 1:14
In-person: dir. Morgan Knibbe
Fest Year: 2015
A storm on the sea, crashing waves, screams, a splash, and we bob on the choppy surface. Up. The raft is distant now, a blur of light. Submersion. Darkness. And then, unexpectedly, light. The formally adventurous Those Who Feel the Fire Burning is a specter’s stroll through migrant Europe. From our guide’s disembodied perspective, we glimpse drug use, lonely phone calls home, personal traumas recollected, religious fervor, makeshift wakes on the pier, and a young girl’s wish that resonates with our spirit’s predicament: “I want to fly to places I haven’t seen yet. I’ve seen more than enough of this place.” With its episodic structure, Those Who Feel the Fire Burning coalesces into a pointillist portrait of migrant life as limbo: invisible, solitary, and nothing like the paradise that was promised. (KP)