ReFrame Film Festival 2019 - Arrival Archives
Arrival Archives is an artful exploration of refugee arrival stories, a multi-perspective love story to the people who have lost their homes and forged a new life.
Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Maya Bastian
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
My work frequently centres around trauma and its impact on community and culture. A couple of years ago I made a film looking at the effects of militarized air shows on newcomer refugees. The public reaction was quite intense, with many people showing a clear lack of understanding of the newcomer experience. When I looked at the statistics, I found that 1 in 4 people are immigrants to Canada. Arriving in Canada is a large part of the Canadian narrative yet it is often not discussed or if it is, it focuses on the trauma instead of the memories. Through the use of home videos, my film highlights the nostalgia and memories of arrival – in an effort to add this missing piece of the puzzle to the settler narrative. We see typical Canadian scenes – canoeing, camping, playing with siblings, but all through the lens of people of colour. Then we asked families to sit down and share their stories over a meal or tea. By combining both the visuals and the interviews, we created a familiar and warm atmosphere. I suppose you could say that making the film was an effort to include people of colour into our country's history.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The film illustrates a truth that you may not have experienced before. It will show many people what it feels like to be a newcomer to a foreign country, but in a way that reflects experiences everyone has. It's meant to act as a shared memory, a common narrative that we can all relate to. I think it's engaging from the start as you are immediately drawn into the family life of these strangers. The flavours of the Congo, the laughter of our Congolese mother as she cooks up a meal and tell us about arriving in the dead of winter. The sweet face and fascinating memories of my 94 year old Sri Lankan Tamil grandmother as she recounts living through civil war and the anti-Tamil pogroms. It's a love story to the chronicles of our ancestors, their memories and the families they have created.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
I find very little difference between the personal and the universal. When you boil it down, we are all experiencing ourselves and our lives in very similar ways. This film addresses themes of memory, identity and loss. Am I am who I am because of my family's history? Are we shaped by what our families have gone through? I'm fascinated by the idea of post-memory, a term coined by Professor Marianne Hirsch. It posits that we are connected to the memories of our ancestors not through recollection but through projection, investment and creation. The film also explores ideas of home, exploring the ways in which we choose to belong.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
We started off with the idea of up to 5 families and weren't sure how we were going to create an open environment for discussing their memories. These stories are often traumatic and we knew we had to get to know everyone really well in order for them to open up to the camera. This is when food became a big part of the equation. We asked ourselves, 'when do we feel the most comfortable'? And the answer is this: sharing a meal. Sitting around a table with loved ones creates a commonality and shared sense of purpose. From far back in human history, sharing meals has been a deep method of communing. Once we found out that Michel's mama loves cooking Congolese food, we knew we could create something really special. The whole crew and cast were involved in the cooking (and the eating!) which immediately helped us bond.
During post-production, the film really evolved aesthetically. The themes shifted constantly, depending on the content of the home videos we used. Some videos were donated to us, some were found in online archives. It was an incredible joy to watch hours and hours of home videos, finding untold gems. A sweet look, a dance, a hug...a newborn baby. These gems shaped the narrative immensely.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
I have found that people of colour are happy to watch something that appeals to their own sense of nostalgia. Storytelling, especially telling the stories of our past is a big part of diverse cultures and so far the response from POC has been appreciative of that. We are just starting to tour the film, so I'm looking forward to hearing feedback from people who do not have experiences of immigration or refugees in their family.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
I had an indigenous friend challenge my 'one in four people are immigrants' statistic to tell me that technically all people are immigrants on this land. This definitely pushed me to see and account for a deeper view of Canada's colonial past. I think I spend so much time thinking about and fighting for the rights of refugees, that I didn't include the people who were here first. It brought about an interesting conversation, where we each had to agree not to discount the others' lived experience.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on ?
There are a lot of facts in this film that are important for people to know. We live in an era of anti-immigrant sentiment and racial profiling. People (including the mainstream media and politicians) continue to spread misinformation about what it's like to live through war. and why and how people come to North America. We can see that even governments feel comfortable violating the rights of refugees and newcomers, treating them as though they are barely human beings. I would like to shift the common narrative and present people with an alternative and deeply truthful view on what this experience is like. I think we spend a lot of time thinking that these things are black and white, but really the truth lives in the grey areas. By asking people to tell their own stories, I hope to expose some of the intricacies of their experiences and share them with the world.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Anyone who has an interest in getting these kinds of stories out into the world. The goal is to have this film seen broadly and to generate discussion, I can only do that with the help of film festival programmers, journalists and distributors. I have spent some time documenting human rights abuses in conflict zones and now I want to bring these stories to the general public. I'm hoping to find support within the film and journalism community, which can make this goal a reality.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
It would be lovely if you watch this film and feel as though you've just spent an afternoon with your family. Sharing memories and discussing family gossip. If you leave with your hearts full and your hands open to the world. If even if just one person is impacted by this film, that can make all the difference.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
What does it feel like to leave everything you have ever known and settle somewhere new? How can we have more empathy for people who are forced out of their homes due to war?
Would you like to add anything else?
The film is touring! It will travel to several places in Canada in the next year. If you can catch it and the other films in the Home Made Visible series by Regent Park Film Festival, please do. Every film in the series uses archival material to highlight the stories of people of colour, and all of them are made by indigenous and visible minority female artists. It feels revolutionary.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
Myself and my producing partner Suze Armstrong are developing several projects with our company Lumi Creative Studio. We are about to go into production on my next narrative short film 'Tigress' which explores the phenomena of militant rebellions. It addresses the disparity between diaspora youth who rebel with drugs and partying and the youth who rebel by arming themselves and going to war.
Interview: January 2019
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. 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
Arrival Archives
Arrival Archives is an artful exploration of refugee arrival stories, a multi-perspective love story to the people who have lost their homes and forged a new life.
Length: 11 minutes
Director: Maya Bastian
Producer: Maya Bastian & Suze Armstrong
Writer: Maya Bastian
About the writer, director and producer:
MAYA BASTIAN is a writer/director with a focus on human rights and the impacts of trauma. She spent several years as an investigative video journalist, documenting areas of conflict and post-conflict. She exhibits her award-winning short films internationally and creates multi-media installations for events and galleries. She is currently developing her first narrative feature which is set in the jungles of post-war Sri Lanka. You can see her work at www.mayabastian.com.
SUZE ARMSTRONG is a producer, director and VFX artist. Her feature film 'Doormat' co-directed with Christy Garland won the Grand Jury choice for the BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE AWARD at The South Asian International Film Festival and her doc shorts have been featured in the Globe and Mail. Her award-winning motion graphics work includes music videos for Leonard Cohen, David Bowie, Sigur Ros, Sheryl Crow, Tricky, Amel Larrieux and Amon Tobin.
Key cast: Joe Bastianpillai, Frances Bastianpillai, Priya Bastian, Maya Bastian, Leelu Nikapota, Michel Chikwanine, Chibalonza Enungu Byamungu
Looking for: Film Festival Directors, Journalists, Distributors
Twitter: @mayabasti
Instagram: @mayabasti, @lumicreativestudio
Funders: Regent Park Film Festival
Made in association with: Regent Park Film Festival, Charles Street Video and Canada Arts Council New Chapter
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? ReFrame Film Festival - Peterborough, Saturday Jan 26, 2019, Home Made Visible Tour - various dates/locations, see calendar here.