Where have all the smiles gone
The domestic economy of Nepal is currently being controlled and balanced by the remittance. Hundreds of people are leaving their homes in Nepal to pursue their dreams, money and happiness outwards. Instead, with prosperity most of them are coming back in coffins.
Interview with Director Anja Strelec
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Nepali journalist and producer Chandra K Jha contacted me and presented the topic and from the very beginning I was really interested and accepted to work with him on this project. I started to think about the price of a human life and is that price different in Europe, USA and Nepal and why is that so? Main TV channels in Europe and USA are mostly broadcasting the stories of their own concern, completely or mostly neglecting modern slavery stories that are happening currently because of the lack of engagement of important decision makers.
The domestic economy of Nepal is currently being controlled and balanced by the remittance. Hundreds of people are leaving their homes in Nepal to pursuit their dreams, money and happiness outwards. Immigration wave each year is increasing but instead with economic prosperity the immigrants are coming back to Nepal in coffins because of bad working conditions. International immigration has become a worldwide concern. Pursuit for better life often ends tragically for entire families. Should they continue their pursuit or stay? Should people continue living in bad conditions in their own countries or die as slaves outwards? All of that was going through my head when we started to do the research.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Because migration is happening all around us every day and we have to start talking about the negative impacts of migration not just positive ones but as well about modern slavery happening in the 21st century. Public needs to see this film to be aware of everything that is going wrong. We are trying to raise awareness. The main questions is how much is worth a human life without information, security, and education and without a possibility to work in normal conditions and to be treated as a human being and not a slave to the wage.
Human right to work and to live in normal conditions is the basic need for everyone.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
Coming from Eastern Europe where there are more and more migrants every year who leave their home in pursuit for a better life and better working conditions is certainly a topic that I can relate to. I migrated from Croatia to Belgium exactly for the reason mentioned above and I know how important it is to feel protected, secure and to be a given an opportunity for a better life. Nevertheless, I am very well aware that situation that is happening with Nepalese migrants cannot be compared with any situation currently happening in Europe.
Without any restrictions, we are talking about modern day slavery which is definitely not given enough attention.
This is the main reason why I agreed to direct this documentary together with Nepalese production company Mountain river films and with help of other important experts who are very committed in resolving this problem. Having a background both as a journalist and documentary filmmaker dealing with political and social topics I consider that this work is just an extension of all my previous experiences.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
Main protagonists in the documentary film “Where have all the smiles gone” are Nepali people and their destinies.
After doing detailed research with producer Chandra K Jha, and our co-producer Giuseppe Savino we have decided to tell not just one story but several stories of people who are migrating as well as the story of the returnees. This documentary is certainly not going to be the kind of documentary in which goal justifies the means. I want to underline the fact that the problem is not beginning in the countries where they are departing to but already in their home country, which is exploiting potential migrant workers because their economy relies on their departure. The problems are of course continuing in the countries of departure where they practically don’t have any rights because of the Kafala system (The system requires all unskilled labourers to have an in-country sponsor, usually their employer, who is responsible for their visa and legal status. This practice has been criticized by human rights organizations for creating easy opportunities for the exploitation of workers, as many employers take away passports and abuse their workers with little chance of legal repercussions).
The objective is to film workers who are about to leave their countries, their preparation, their everyday life, their goals and at the same time to capture the testimonies and lives of the victims or victims’ families who returned to Nepal. In a way it’s like a vicious circle which never ends. One of the visuals that is most certainly going to be included in the film is at the airport in Kathmandu. On one side you can see happy faces of young people departing, spending last moments with their families with passports and visa documents in their hands and on the other side of the airport you can witness people crying while waiting their loved ones to arrive dead in coffins.
The victims that are also most certainly going to be included are the female workers who returned to Nepal after being raped, abused and molested by their employers in Golf countries. Those women are now living in shelters in Nepal after coming back. Why? Because they are afraid of going back to their families after being raped and pregnant by their employers mostly in Saudi Arabia.
On the other hand the documentary is going to include interviews from the respected journalists who are covering this stories, NGO’s, Government officials, International migration officers etc as well as hole recruitment process from beginning to the end.
The strongest points are as well mobile photos and videos from the returnees, newspaper clips as well as the footage that we are including from the workers who just left as their private visual diaries.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
We just finished with first round of shootings and our goal is to apply to funding’s or reach out to sales agents, producers in USA or EU who can came on board with financial support for the second round of shooting and post-production. We are definitely looking for more visibility.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I don’t agree that media or audio-visual art cannot change anyone’s destiny. I think that is just the opposite and that making this documentary is the best possible way to transmit information messages and reach out to institutions, governments, victims, their families and all important organizations and individuals that can make a difference.
How? By showing objectively what is going in front of their eyes and how majority of people are just ignoring and not responding to difficulty of this situation.
Changes can be made by improving a system step by step and by doing a worldwide film distribution of this important subject because for too many years that has been just the Nepalese concern.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Most important thing is to point out that changes need to happen regarding the laws, regarding education, security, protections and free passage of information. To succeed with that, this story needs to find a way to be presented to large audience worldwide and decision makers. There is certainly not enough preparation and training regarding the procedure of migrating and the problems for Nepalese migrants are starting already in their own country to be unfortunately continued in the countries that they are migrating to.
Like I mentioned we are talking about the vicious circle that starts already in Nepal because the lack of knowledge among migrants and because of their fear to migrate in the most possible legal way. Even though their fear and migrating illegally is somehow justified because the lack of money to pay to recruitment agencies and because of the weak government laws that don’t protect them enough, this can’t be continued. Situation for them gets even worse when they migrate because they find themselves in the unknown in very bad working conditions, without any protection and forced to work by the laws of foreign countries. Is it acceptable that a Nepalese migrant worker dies every 9 hours in Malaysia?
Would you like to add anything else?
Together with production company Mountain river films we have started to discuss this project in August 2016 and doing all the necessary preparation for the first shootings which were held from 20th of February till 20th of March. In this almost one month shooting we have enough material to start with pitching for potential fundings After getting necessary funding we will continue with production. Our goal is to finish shooting somewhere at the end of 2018 and start editing at the beginning of 2019.
Interview: November 2017
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We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series and music video. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
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Where have all the smiles gone
The domestic economy of Nepal is currently being controlled and balanced by the remittance. Hundreds of people are leaving their homes in Nepal to pursue their dreams, money and happiness outwards. Instead, with prosperity most of them are coming back in coffins.
Length: Long –feature film
Director: Anja Strelec
Producer: Mountain River Films
Co-producer: Giuseppe Savino
Writer: Chandra K Jha, Anja Strelec
About the writer, director and producer:
Director:
Anja Strelec is a professional documentary filmmaker and TV journalist originally from Croatia and living in Belgium. She has a master degree both from University of Political Science in Croatia and audiovisual and film directing from French Universiy of Toulouse.
As a TV journalist she has done more then 40 TV features in Croatia, France and Belgium as well as she directed and co-directed short and mid length creative and social documentaries which were screened in more then 30 international festivals world wide, public televisions, museums and different institutions. She is a selector of fiction film for FIFB – festival international du film de Bruxelles as well as mentor of many documentary film workshops. Last 5 years she is working as freelance TV video journalist and documentary filmmaker and cinematographer for several production companies and communication agencies in Brussels.
Production company:
Mountain River Films (MRF) is an independent film production[1][2] and sales company[3] headquartered in Kathmandu, Nepal. Founded by film enthusiasts Chandra K. Jha and Dhurba Maharjan in 2010, the objective of the company has been stated as "Bridging the gap between independent filmmakers of South Asian and the international market". One of its main objectives is to make unique and meaningful Nepalese films for all kinds of audiences, especially foreign film enthusiasts all over the world. As a production house, the company is associated with almost all aspects of filmmaking ranging from story development, story-script conversion and script development to pre-production, shooting and post-production work
Key cast:
Looking for (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists):
Social media handles:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WhereHaveAllTheSmilesGone/
Made in association with: Mountain River Films