Summer 2016: In the Saxon village of Arnsdorf near Dresden (East Germany) a Kurdish-Iraqi refugee enters a discount supermarket to report a problem with his recently acquired prepaid SIM card. An argument between the cashier and the man escalates when four men attack the refugee, drag him out of the shop, and tie him to a nearby tree. The police arrive twenty-five minutes later. The four men walk home, unidentified by the police, while the refugee is questioned at the station. Ten days later a YouTube video goes viral documenting the incident inside the supermarket. An investigation leads to a trial with the four men charged with false imprisonment—and Schabas Saleh Al-Aziz accused of robbery and threatening behaviour. The case is dismissed in less than four hours on the grounds that it is not in the public interest and the key witness cannot testify anymore. Schabas Saleh Al-Aziz’s corpse was found a week before the trial. Frozen to death in a forest.
AGAIN re-enacts the incident and investigates Schabas Saleh Al-Aziz’s mix of feelings generated by his escape from Iraq, the subsequent refugee aid, medical care, and legal disputes. Present during the film’s live production, ten citizens observe the performance and watch archive material on the case. Based on their own migrant experience, they comment on what they have seen – evincing intense emotional reactions. The re-enactment is performed by nonprofessional performers together with German actors Dennenesch Zoudé and Mark Waschke.

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