I AM REBECCA
I Am Rebecca examines the existence and welfare of the American Dream through the life of Rebecca Mabior, A refugee living in Missouri. Rebecca is a mother, raising three children with her husband john. She is a nurse, working as a labor and delivery RN in Kansas city, Missouri. She is a homeowner, a devoted wife, and an activist, calling for equality at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C. Rebecca is also a refugee, a person who escaped persecution and probable death for standing up to power in Sudan seventeen years ago. I Am Rebecca tells the story of this remarkable person as she revisits her past, assesses the present political climate in the United States, and advocates for the future of her family and other refugees. The result is a subtle and deeply emotional examination of identity, displacement, and the fate of the American Dream.
SCREENINGS
African Women International Film Festival 2018Africa World Documentary Film Festival 2018Auckland International Film Festival 2018Bermuda International Film Festival 2018Bozeman Film Celebration 2018California Women’s Film Festival 2018Cannes Court Métrage 2018 Idyllwild International Festival of Cinema 2018Kansas City FilmFest 2018Mumbai Shorts International Film Festival 2018New Filmmakers New York 2018South Africa Film Festival 2018 2018Through Women’s Eyes (partnered with the Sarasota Film Festival) 2018Vancouver International Women in Film Fest 2018
AWARDS
Winner: Award of Merit – Impact Docs Awards 2018
Winner: Mary Austin Award for Excellence in Producing Documentary – Idyllwild IFC 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 does the film humanise experiences of forced displacement?
2. How does the film allow us to engage with the real lived experiences of forced displacement and critically engage with the political nature of contemporary border control regimes?
3. How does the film engage with the idea of the ‘American Dream’? Is the notion of an ‘American Dream’ still relevant?
4. What was your favourite scene and why?
SOCIAL MEDIA
Website: http://iamrebeccafilm.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/iamrebeccafilm/Instagram: @iamrebeccafilm
RESOURCES
I FELT IT TOO
Syrian refugee camps are full of young widows finding themselves on foreign land, being sole heads of their households while trying to keep their family together. This short film transports us to a Lebanese camp through the eyes of a young spirited girl, Cidra.
POST-SCREENING CONVERSATION QUESTIONS
1. According to the U.N. agency, despite being at a greater risk of abuse and violence, children find ways to cope. How do everyday activities such as cleaning and playing highlight the protagonist’s agency?
2. Millions of underage children are facing precarious living conditions in refugee camps. How does the film communicate human experiences as opposed to faceless statistics?
3. According to Ramzi Haidar, founder of Zakira Image Festival Association, “Children have a genuine way of seeing the world”. What does the film accomplish in portraying life in camp through a child’s eyes?
4. What is your favourite scene and why?
RESOURCES
ONLY MY VOICE
In transit through Athens, four women from the Middle East share their stories. They all left their countries at different times in their life and for different reasons. As they preferred not to be identified, only their voices are heard. Throughout the film, the women’s words are interlaced with music and noises from the city to form at the end a new antique chorus. Stories of up-rootedness and contradictory sensations and personal experiences of freedom will gradually echo each other; resonating and interacting with the city of Athens.
SCREENINGS
WORLD PREMIERE – Edinburgh International Film Festival, 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Encounters Film Festival – Creative England Showcase, 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Beirut International Film Festival, 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Aesthetica Short Film Festival ASFF, 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION – Underwire Film Festival, 2017
OFFICIAL SELECTION – London Short Film Festival, 2018
POST-SCREENING CONVERSATION QUESTIONS
1. How does the filmmaker challenge the tendency to victimise migrant women and deny them any form of agency, through the presentation of personal narratives?
2. The film communicates a sense of mobility as the heroine pedals across the city. How does the film’s cinematography communicate the protagonist’s individual navigation of a new life in exile?
3. “There was one thing my mother taught me before I learnt to eat, before learning how to walk, she taught me to be patient.” What is the role of time and ‘waiting’ in the experience of seeking asylum?
4. Why do you think the filmmaker chose to not fully show the protagonists and instead focused on capturing only their voices?
RESOURCES
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