London Migration Film Festival 2021
Online programme
Because the festival is a bit smaller than usual, in order to showcase some of our favourite films that were submitted, we decided to include an online programme which will be live for the duration of the festival. So read about the films here - they will go live on 17 June!
In person events
(we couldn’t be more excited to get back to cinemas)
The Wolves (Los Lobos) + Q&A
Lucía just moved to the US with her two sons, Max and Leo. While Lucía struggles to make a living in spite of working long hours, the two brothers spend their days in their sparsely furnished one-room flat. The walls of the room, which they are forbidden to leave, become a projection screen for imaginative adventures and open a window on their new life.
This film draws on universal themes of parenthood, loneliness and having to adapt to unforeseen circumstances - and exposes the immobility and the feeling of being neither here nor there at the heart of so many experiences of migration.
Genesis Cinema, Thursday 17 June 6:20pm
Stateless (Apátrida) + Q&A
1973: Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent were exterminated by the Dominican army, based on anti-black hatred. 2013: the Dominican Republic stripped the citizenship of anyone with Haitian parents, retroactive to 1929 - rendering hundreds of thousands stateless, without rights and vulnerable to deportation from the country they call home. This is why human rights lawyer Rosa Iris - a Dominican of Haitian descent - mounts a grassroots campaign to fight for social justice.
Both context-specific and disarmingly universal, this nuanced film explores the fraught relationship between two countries sharing the same island, the rhetoric behind the political decision to render people stateless, and the demonisation of those who stand up against it.
Genesis Cinema, Friday 18 June 6:20pm
Space Journey (El Viaje Espacial)
A tour across Chile's diverse scenarios through the observation of bus stops and their passenger's conversations. The desert, cities, ocean and snowy peaks are the settings for this mosaic of day-to-day situations where humor, drama, and absurdity are combined. A film that delves into the conflicts of a diverse and unequal country colliding with the desires of the newly arrived immigrants.
Genesis Cinema, Saturday 19 June 4:10pm
Jaguar + Q&A
Niger, 1960s. Three friends leave their village for the Gold Coast (Ghana), to find their fortunes. Narrated by the men themselves several years after their journey as they re-watch the footage, this is a feel-good film about personal growth and the universality of migration.
The protagonists of this ethnography touch on important themes - such as colonialism, exploitation, borders and personal growth through movement - in a playful way.
Genesis Cinema, Saturday 19 June 6pm
Chance + Q&A
Four young men from Sudan are sitting on the back of a lorry that, they hope, will take them to the UK. As they wait for the lorry to leave, they talk about everything from the practicalities of journeying to the UK from Sudan, to what drove them to leave and their hopes for the future, while they reflect on a system that excludes them from a dignified life.
An adaptation from theatrical improvisation, in this docu-fiction the thoughts and hopes of people often demonised by the current rhetoric on migration take centre stage.
Genesis Cinema, Sunday 20 June 3:30pm
El Father Plays Himself
* UK premiere *
Filmmaker Jorge Thielen Armand returns to Venezuela from Canada, where he has lived since he was 15. He decides to shoot a film about his father’s colourful life in the Amazon, in which his father stars as himself.
In this meta-documentary that follows the filmmaker through the shooting, the gregarious, alcoholic father is given an opportunity to rebuild a relationship with his son after years of living apart, while the son invites his father to make amends and forces him to face tough truths.
A film, in turns searing and intimate, that considers absence, parenthood, addiction, and how relationships form and change when families are separated.
Genesis Cinema, Sunday 20 June 6pm
online events
(because sometimes digital stuff can still be good)
Migration on demand: The impact of streaming on migration cinema
* Panel discussion *
Once a marginalised niche within cinema, films about migration are now quite literally moving into the mainstream, with streaming platforms from Netflix to MUBI featuring films that put the immigrant and refugee at the heart of the story. And in the era of Covid-19, streaming has never been more popular.
But what is the effect of this on viewers? What kind of stories are being told and whose voices are being platformed? And is there potential for this mainstreaming to truly change how the public thinks about migration? Our exciting panel of content curators, academics, and filmmakers will consider these questions and many more.
Online Tuesday, 22 June 6pm
Tickets here
A dystopian present? The state of UK immigration system
* Screening and panel discussion *
City of Lost Children (25mins) directed by Misha Vertkin
A near-future dystopia set in a refugee camp for kids. Under the ‘Duty of Care’ Act, any unaccompanied minor found entering the UK illegally is held in a detention camp until age 18, when they will be deported to their country of origin. We follow 11-year old Dami and Azra, as they navigate the chaos of the camp, desperately trying to find Dami a home before Azra is deported the next day.
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion of experts on the UK’s current immigration system. Bringing in their knowledge of law, policy, advocacy, and the practical realities of what it means to be an immigrant or forced migrant in the UK today, the panelists will consider such questions as: What is it like to navigate the UK immigration system? How realistic is the premise of City of Lost Children? And what can we do to work towards fairer, more humane immigration processes?
Online Wednesday, 23 June 6pm
Tickets here