Reyhane and Farzane are two six-year-old girls. They are cousins and best friends. They live in an Afghan refugee camp in Eastern Iran, near the border to Afghanistan. Through the barbed wire fence, which surrounds the camp, they can see the huge mountains, which make up a natural frontier between the two countries. In the documentary Behind the Mountains we follow the two girls in the summer up to their first day of school. Starting school is a big change: uniforms, headscarves and great expectations. An epoch-making event in every child’s life, regardless of the country in which you grow up: Denmark, Afghanistan or “Refugee Camp Land” as the girls have

named their location. The mixture of the known and the unknown, and the specific versus the universal is the pivotal point of the film. When the girls make their own kites out of plastic bags, balance over open gutters, climb barbed wire fences, kiss the Koran or crack pistachios to earn money for school supplies, will some children feel the difference. But when they fool around or share their excitement for the first day of school, all the differences vanish. Behind the Mountains is a life-affirming documentary.