The most distinguished Dutch director Ben Sombogaart is the director of the film "Rafael", a minority co-production of the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Croatia, which was presented at a press conference. It is a drama based on a true story of an ordeal of a married couple, a Dutch woman and a Tunisian man. During Arab Spring, the couple decides to leave the country, but he doesn’t manage to cross the border and is separated from his pregnant wife, and later ends up in a refugee camp.

Nabil Mallat plays the main role of Nazir. It is his third time in Croatia, which he loves. “It was impossible to prepare for this role, as in life, it is impossible to prepare for the horrific events that a refugee goes through”, he said.

When asked who Rafael is, he did not want to reveal too much, as the screening for the public was to follow shortly, but he did say that Rafael is the soul of the film. “Rafael is the Sun that turns into night, and you miss it terribly”, he added.

Antonio Scarpa plays the Italian police officer who works at the illegal refugee camp and has to stick to the rules, which, unfortunately, don’t work in practice. “I still have to respect the rules as a carabiniere, so I end up in conflict with the refugees”, he said.

Ana Bulajić Črček was the make-up designer in the film, and she had a lot of interventions. “I have prepared for this film quite a lot; and as it is based on a true story, I had a big responsibility”, she said. They had to illustrate the horrific events that the characters have gone through, and needed to go back to the past, so she studied documentary films as part of her preparations for the work on the film. “I was mindful not to have the make-up be distracting, but I wanted to keep it credible”, she said.

Rafael was filmed in Biograd, Vodnjan, and many other Croatian towns that have faithfully represented the streets of Tunisia. Bulajić Črček thinks that Croatia has the great advantage of being able to play the role of any town in the world.

Mallat said that working with Sombogaart was a valuable experience: “He has made the filming of difficult scenes significantly easier. He was funny, very friendly, and I can say I’ve made a friend for life.”