A photo essay of life at a Wild West theme park turned refugee camp
In our latest mini-doc, MEL Films traveled to Kulltorp, Sweden, to spend a few days at High Chaparral, a Wild West theme park that in recent months has become home to 500 Syrian refugees seeking asylum from their war-torn native land. The scene is surreal—a safe haven in the most unlikely of places—but also serene—feeling much less uncertain than a typical refugee camp.
During open season, these are cabins for tourists looking to re-create living conditions of the American West. This rustic setting currently doubles as family homes for refugees.A large portrait of the park’s founder, Bengt Erlandsson, atop a white horse above refugees keeping warm and socializing in the park’s converted museum.A church, blacksmith and hotel, among other buildings, in the faux-Western city of High Chaparral.The park’s founder, “Big Bengt,” welcomes visitors to the Wild West museum. The museum is currently being used as a dining hall, as well as a meeting and educational space.The women above, all asylum seekers hoping to start a new life in Sweden, talk over coffee in the camp’s makeshift dining area.Children wait in line for hamburgers and french fries, served by the park’s full-time Swedish kitchen staff.The vast theme park complex includes live gunfight reenactments, as seen from this vantage point during summer tourist season.A cabin in the park, built in the theme of the American settlers.Recent arrivals from a long journey to Sweden pose for a video portrait outside of the refugee cabins.Behind the lens with Mahmoud Bitar, a Syrian refugee and an employee of High Chaparral. Mahmoud has recently become a notable YouTube personality, documenting his journey for his followers, who hope to do the same, as he seeks a new life away from the ongoing war in his home country.
And check out a teaser for next week’s MEL Films documentary about the Japanese trucker subculture of Dekotora:
