On the Bride's Side

Overview

The wedding day is still heralded as one of the most important days in a person's life. It's not without it's pressures though, what with exchanging your deepest feelings in front of all your family and friends, posing for endless photos and making sure everyone gets a slice of the cake. Still, the stresses of a real wedding are nothing when compared to the fake wedding played out in On the Bride's Side.

The film follows the unlikely, fantastical journey of a group of people who have come together to help out a bunch of strangers in need. Two friends living in Milan met five Palestinian and Syrian refugees who made the treacherous journey to Lampedusa from war-ravaged Syria. They decided to help them reach their destination in Sweden by engaging in some highly creative trickery — covering up the their smuggle by inviting a dozen friends and forming a fake wedding party. On the Bride's Side films the thrilling, emotional, and at times hilarious, journey from Milan to Stockholm.

The UN estimates that there are currently over 51 million forcibly displaced people in the world. Of this number, 16.7 million are refugees—millions of people that might never see their homeland again. On the Bride's Side is an important and timely documentary that puts a human face to statistics and helps us stretch the limits of our empathy and understanding. It shows what beauty the human spirit is capable of if we let go of prejudice and meet one another on level ground. All this, and it also manages to take you on an entertaining ride.