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Cast Away Souls looks at the political structures behind the conditions at the deportation centre Sjælsmark, as well as at the controversial methods used to push the centre's residents to leave Denmark voluntarily. Some call the methods inhumane, while others call them necessary. Through a conversation between the Sjælsmark unit manager Niels Johannessen and one of the residents, Stanley Edward, the film talks about everyday life under constant pressure and about a life where human rights and international conventions are put to the test. Cast Away Souls hits squarely home in one of today's great political discussions, not just about the conditions that children live in at Sjælsmark, but also more generally about human compassion and human rights at centres such as Sjælsmark.

Markus Fiedler, born 1972 in Hamburg/Germany, successfully completed his Studies of Psychology at the University of Hamburg in 2001. In addition he started the Studies of Visual Communication at the University of Fine Arts Hamburg (HfbK) between 1998 and 2003. From 2007 to 2011 he he completed the Postgraduate Studies of Audio-Visual Media / Film & TV at the Academy of Media Arts (KHM) in Cologne/Germany with his graduation film 'Elif's Boys', a 99min documentary about the story of three generations of men of a turkish-kurdish family who migrated to Germany. Since 2002 Fiedler is working as an independent filmmaker, mainly in the field of narrative documentaries. He has been working as screen printer, graphic artist and billsticker.