Queens World Film Festival 2019 – Exile and Belonging: Stories of Migrants From Around the World
Exile and Belonging showcases the unique stories of migrants, shedding light on the diversity of individual experience of migrants from around the world. The film uses the voices of real people paired with animation to protect the identities of those who remain undocumented. Each story highlights the diversity migration experiences, yet the stories are unified by the uniquely human audacity to imagine a better life.
Interview with Director/Producer Christina MacGillivray
Watch Exile and Belonging: Stories of Migrants From Around the World here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
In 2014 I was lead researcher on a documentary produced with the United Nations Human Rights Office, which focused on the stories of three undocumented migrant women from Bolivia, Malaysia and Trinidad. In conducting the research for the film, I spoke with many women from dozens of countries who were kind enough to share their stories.
One of the major challenges in producing this film was that women in precarious legal situations often do not want to appear on camera. Revealing their identities posed a serious threat to their safety, employment, ability to stay in the receiving country and subsequently to the health and welfare of their families and children back home.
Thus when we decided to create Exile and Belonging – rather than go with the traditional medium of film, I opted for audio interviews instead of using a camera. First, an audio interview provides greater security for the individual, many of whom narrate their own true stories under an assumed name to protect their identities. And second – I find audio recording encourages the subject to be less guarded in both what they say and in their emotions because it is less intimidating than a full camera set up.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Exile and Belonging showcases the diversity of migrant experiences. Media and political reporting often reduce migration narratives to simple explanations. In reality, each person has their own reasons for leaving behind home and family. Their stories often remain hidden. Many migrants are compelled to endure life in the shadows, prevented from enjoying the rights and freedoms so many take for granted.
We created this film with the belief that through conversation with those we perceive as different, by listening to their experiences as individuals, we recognize our universal human longing to belong and to live with dignity. We have far more in common than that which divides us, a critical reminder in today’s divisive atmosphere.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
There are few issues today as divisive as migration. Anti-migrant discourse in the political sphere, the media and public debate have become commonplace, often for cheap political gains. Dividing societies into ‘us’ versus ‘them’ enables justification of discrimination, hatred and violence against migrants.
We see this manifested in categorizing or dismissing entire groups of people. In the media, we hear of this as a “swarm, a tide or a flood” of migrants. I believe the key to ending this harmful categorization is to particularize our human experiences. Into these specific lives, these experiences, we can understand we share many values – including the uniquely human audacity to imagine a better life.
To paraphrase Hari Kondabolu in this film, “This is why I like persons more than people. Persons see complications. They make exceptions. Once we have enough exceptions we can realize maybe the story I’m being told isn’t true.”
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
The central evolution in the series was its ambition. In the beginning, we aimed to produce two to three animated shorts. In the end – this became 15 animated shorts. Seven of these appear in the film Exile and Belonging.
The full series can be viewed on the United Nations Human Rights Website.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We are grateful for the tremendous positive feedback for this film.
My only regret is that I would have liked to be able to allow each individual story to play out longer on the screen, to detail each person’s history and motivation for migration. It’s a challenge to edit down an entire life to two to three minutes and to do so with compassion for the challenges and joys of the individuals’ experience.
However, this is the fundamental trial of the editing room. We had a mandate that each short story be under three minutes in length in order to be able to distribute it online via social media.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The above is really my own feedback – and I hope to constantly challenge my own point of view!
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
It's wonderful to be able to be a part of the We Are Moving Stories platform because it's a direct link to a broader community of filmmakers and other folks from the industry. It's especially important as a platform because it champions films by women - with 50% of the films by women! We need to see more and more of these kinds of priorities.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
Film festival directors, journalists, nonprofits and international organisations focused on human rights and migration.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
Exile and Belonging uses an unconventional format to discuss the large and complex issue of migration and xenophobia. But in many ways, we are hoping to reduce the idea of differences to a one-on-one level. I would hope the animated short does that - help viewers appreciate the amazing diversity of individual experiences and resist the temptation to create generalizations.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
Have you had a conversation with someone from a completely different walk of life from you in the last week? Month? If so who?
And if not - why not?
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
In December 2018, I directed the United Nations Human Rights Office’s first-ever stand-up comedy festival, Stand-Up For Migrants in Geneva, featuring diverse international comedians sharing their stories and perspectives on migration, xenophobia and the rising nationalism we see around the world. I believe satirical comedy and laughter can play an important role in addressing divisive issues. We can counter hatred with shared spaces of creativity, laughter and joy. Stand-Up For Migrants does just that.
Looking forward, I hope to build Stand-Up for Migrants into an annual festival and bring it to new audiences around the world.
Interview: April 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
Exile and Belonging: Stories of Migrants From Around the World
Exile and Belonging showcases the unique stories of migrants, shedding light on the diversity of individual experience of migrants from around the world. The film uses the voices of real people paired with animation to protect the identities of those who remain undocumented. Each story highlights the diversity migration experiences, yet the stories are unified by the uniquely human audacity to imagine a better life.
Length: 15:07
Director: Christina MacGillivray
Executive Producer: Pia Oberoi
Writer: Christina MacGillivray
About the writer, director and producer:
CHRISTINA MACGILLIVRAY is an award-winning writer, director and cinematographer based in New Delhi, India. She works with the United Nations Human Rights Office on creating new film and storytelling initiatives around the issues of human rights and immigration. Christina directed the United Nations’ first ever stand-up comedy festival Stand-Up For Migrants, which featured diverse political comedians sharing their unique stories and perspectives on immigration and xenophobia. She is a former President William J. Clinton fellow in media and human rights. Christina has directed and produced films in more than a dozen countries including India, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kenya, Austria, Malaysia and others. Her work focuses on empowering women and girls, both on screen and behind the camera.
Dr PIA OBEROI is the Advisor on Migration and Human Rights at the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, where she leads the work of OHCHR's migration team and advises the High Commissioner on policy and legal issues related to the intersections between migration and human rights. Prior to this, Pia led the migrants' rights work of Amnesty International's International Secretariat, and also advised NGOs and policy think tanks on migration and human rights in several regions of the world. An expert on international human rights law and policy related to migrants, Pia has written, lectured and published extensively on related issues, including in the context of the current challenges of migration governance. Pia holds an MPhil and a DPhil in International Relations from St Antony's College, Oxford University. Her DPhil thesis was published by Oxford University Press in 2006 as Exile and Belonging: Refugees and State Policy in South Asia.
Looking for: film festival directors
Facebook: United Nations Human Rights
Twitter: @UNHumanRights
Instagram: @christinamacgillivray
Hashtags used: #HumanRights #StandUpForMigrants #StandUpForHumanRights
Website: www.ohchr.org
Other: Vimeo
Made in association with: The United Nations Human Rights Office