8 BORDERS, 8 DAYS
A single mother shows us the consequences of closing America’s doors to families fleeing war. With no answer to her application for resettlement in the US, and every other path to safety closed off, a smuggler’s raft to Europe was the only way out. 8 Borders, 8 Days is her story; the intimate details of why a fiercely-determined mother is willing to risk her children’s lives for a better future and an immersive experience of their eight-day journey to safety.
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
Best Feature Documentary at the Buffalo International Film Fest 2017
Indie Vision Breakthrough Award for Non Fiction 2017
Seattle International Film Festival 2017
POST-SCREENING CONVERSATION QUESTIONS
1. When you hear the word ‘refugee’, what images and terms come to mind?
2. How does the filmmaker challenge the tendency to victimise migrant women and deny them any form of agency?
3. How did the documentary shape your understanding of forced displacement? Has it challenged your pre-existing views?
4. What is your favourite scene and why?
RESOURCES
PODCAST: AMANDA BAILLY – “8 BORDERS, 8 DAYS” WITH SYRIAN REFUGEE FAMILY
ARTICLE: DOCUMENTARY ON SYRIAN REFUGEES DRAWS A LARGE CROWD IN RUTLAND
ARTICLE: EX-RUTLAND MAYOR HIGHLIGHTS ‘TRUE FACES’ OF REFUGEE RESETTLEMENT
EVEN WHEN I FALL
Sheetal and Saraswoti met as teenagers in a Kathmandu refuge, survivors of child trafficking to corrupt Indian circuses and brought back across the border to a Nepal they could barely remember.
EVEN WHEN I FALL traces their journey over 6 years as they confront the families that sold them, seek acceptance within their own country and begin to build a future. They struggle against the odds and without education, but inadvertently these girls were left with a secret weapon by their captors – their breath-taking skills as circus artists. With 11 other young trafficking survivors, Sheetal and Saraswoti form Circus Kathmandu – Nepal’s first and only circus. As they take the bold step of bringing an unrecognised art form to the stages of Nepal, they simultaneously challenge the deep-seated stigma against trafficked women.
They discover the courage to perform in front of growing crowds, but unexpectedly they also find the strength and will to address their past. We travel with them as they piece together broken memories in the rich beauty of the Kathmandu Valley, through the dusty poverty-stricken border towns of the Terai plains and finally to the bright lights of the famous Big Top at Glastonbury Festival. Through this personal journey they discover a sense of responsibility that comes with the stage – to use the crowd’s rapt attention to spread a message – to educate against modern slavery. When the devastating earthquakes hit Nepal they are drawn back to face its challenges with a new resolve
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An intimate, beautiful film that harnesses the visual power of circus to give a unique perspective into the complex world of human trafficking.
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS
Nominated for the Discovery Award, British Independent Film Awards 2017
Nominated for the Tim Hetherington Award, Sheffield Doc/Fest 2017
Nominated for the Feature Documentary Award, One World Media Awards 2018
POST-SCREENING CONVERSATION QUESTIONS
1. Whose different voices do we hear throughout the film? What different insights do we gain from each of these? Which voices gave you perspectives you hadn’t thought about before?
2. Directors Sky Neal and Kate McLarnon reflect on the documentary process: “The film we’ve made is not black and white but it gives us a glimpse into the changing lives of some amazing young men and women, whose skill and resilience we found incredible to witness. Instead of great declarations we have awkward silences, undercurrents of memory and distress, the slow building of trust and resolve.” How do you see “human resilience” as portrayed in the protagonists of this film, and does it change or build over time?
3. How can the film itself work as an advocacy tool?
4. How do the filmmakers challenge the media’s common tendency to victimise survivors of human trafficking and deny them any form of agency?
RESOURCES
Even When I Fall – Official website
Even When I Fall Review – Remarkable Trafficking Documentary by The Guardian
Even When I Fall Review – The Most Feelgood Film of the Week by the Financial Times
Even When I Fall – Sheffield Review via ScreenDaily
Even When I Fall Review: A Big Enough Tent for All via Flick Filosopher
SYRIAN STORIES
What is it like to be in exile in a country that borders home?
This documentary anthology, produced in workshops held in Beirut, Amman and Istanbul in 2017, reflects the diverse experiences of Syrian people displaced by the conflict.
In a cinematic journey through different geographic and emotional landscapes we see how, in the words of Syrian author Yassin al-Haj Saleh, “the personal has become public and political… The public and political has become personal”.
SCREENINGS
WORLD PREMIERE – British Council Screening in Amman, 2018
POST-SCREENING CONVERSATION QUESTIONS
1. Documentaries have an important role in times of crisis as they facilitate understanding and inspire empathy. In what way do the filmic stories humanise experiences of forced displacement?
2. How does the film allow us to engage with the real lived experiences of forced displacement and move away from stereotypical representations of asylum seekers and refugees as found in the media and contemporary political debates?
3. What is the role of the photo-journalist in documenting war and crisis? How reliable are media representations as ‘authentic’ sources of information?
4. What does the combination of first-person storytelling and lived experience as testimony achieve?
RESOURCES
The Jordan Times – Series of documentaries sheds light on Syrian’s individual stories
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