Expanding Sanctuary

The encounter with a growing, and mostly undocumented, brazilian community allows us to bear witness to its energy, its vivacity, and its diversity. This film attempts to work for a larger acceptance of foreigners in their land of exile.

A group of children living on the streets of Athens. Among them is Sayid, a twelve-year-old boy, who works all day selling sunflower seeds in the city’s parks and squares. His existence borders on absolute poverty, as he goes looking for food at soup kitchens. His daily routine in the chaotic capital of Greece is a continuous struggle for survival. At the same time, however, he manages to find and enjoy the freedom the city streets can offer. Sayid, along with his friends who are all immigrants from Afghanistan, escape their desperation by clinging onto their hopes. With them, he plays innocent childhood games and dreams of a better future: He wants to leave for Northern Europe, to go to school, and to get a decent job when he grows up. Sayid is trapped in Greece, a country plagued by a financial crisis, increasing unemployment, rampant xenophobia, and racist violence. Sayid doesn’t mince his words: “I’ve been here for about two years, and it feels like twenty.”

In Surinamers in Nederland: De terugkeer van het zwarte goud, we see Surinamese people arriving in the Netherlands, unsure of what to expect, and being packed into overcrowded boarding houses. The government's idea is that they should then be integrated into society as quickly as possible. This was to be done by the Centraal Bureau Uitvoering Vestigingsbesluit Rijksgenoten, set up in 1974.

Boiling Point (original title Kiehumispiste) describes the different reactions the Finnish people had to the large immigration amounts in 2015-2016.

During World War II, many Japanese immigrants in Santos, Brazil, were forced to move to another place. Matsubayashi draws attention to the fact that 60% of the immigrants were from Okinawa. Based on testimonies from interviewees, this film reveals the hidden historical relationship between Okinawa and Brazil.

A desperate journey in the heart of Thessaloniki. Seven Iranians, each one for his personal reasons, leave their homeland and embark on a life journey. Europe can provide them with a different life. It can provide them with human rights. An obligatory stop on the way is Greece. There, they meet each other, they are imprisoned and they realize that “democracy” isn’t what they imagined. They try in any way they can to flee the country, living to the fullest every last moment they spend here. Thessaloniki is their new homeland for now. So, they try to become one with the city, to experience “Greek democracy”

Chema is an expat architect from Spain who lives in Amsterdam. He has built up a new life there as a wind-up toy maker. He creates small pieces of art from recycle items.

A generational trauma through the lens of an Asian American teenager through food and poetry.

After saving an abused pit bull, a troubled Brighton Beach teenager who makes ends meet through crime while raising his little brother, must protect the dog from its nefarious owners.

Deep in Mexico two brothers sit in a plaza discussing a broken fuel pump. In a few days they will leave for work. With their father and some friends they will ride a bus 1,300 miles north and enter the United States by walking through the desert. They call America “El Otro Lado,” the other side.

A young mouse named Fievel and his family decide to migrate to America, a "land without cats," at the turn of the 20th century. But somehow, Fievel ends up in the New World alone and must fend off not only the felines he never thought he'd have to deal with again but also the loneliness of being away from home.

This feature documentary takes us to the heart of the Jane-Finch "Corridor" in the early 1980s. Covering six square blocks in Toronto's North York, the area readily evokes images of vandalism, high-density subsidized housing, racial tension, despair and crime. By focusing on the lives of several of the residents, many of them black or members of other visible minorities, the film provides a powerful view of a community that, contrary to its popular image, is working towards a more positive future.

The Fall of the I-Hotel brings to life the battle for housing in San Francisco. The brutal eviction of the International Hotel's tenants culminated a decade of spirited resistance to the razing of Manilatown. The Fall of the I-Hotel works on several levels. It not only documents the struggle to save the I-Hotel, but also gives an overview of Filipino American history.

A short documentary that follows Korean grandparents as they share their modern-day reckoning of their immigration story and grandparenthood.

In 1915 a young, charismatic Japanese man with a mysterious past entered into the Appalachian culture of Asheville, North Carolina, is suspicioned a spy, targeted by the Klan, but perseveres with a passion for photography and the mountains he adopts, bringing to life Great Smoky Mountains National Park & the Appalachian Trail.

Zina left Algeria to fulfill her childhood dream of driving trucks. At every turn, her cabin becomes a space of freedom and the highway a battlefield.

My Baba Bozorg was a professor of literature in Tehran, Iran. He moved to Canada in 2002 to live with his son, my father. He spends his days, at large, seldom in his room on the top floor of our suburban home in Scarborough, Ontario. Primarily reading and writing, studying English, watching Persian films, following Persian news, and keeping company to our family dog, Oreo. He never misses his daily walk, morning and evening cups of tea, and telling me Dooset Daram (I love you) when our paths cross. He has watched me grow in this house for 21 of my 22 years of life. Our verbal exchange is remarkably limited given our understanding of one another. A bond I believe can be largely attributed to the beauty our language barrier allows us to see. Nothing about this film was coordinated or discussed prior to shooting. I saw him sleeping, and he woke up and saw me. The rest unfolded. No questions or hesitations.

Sekhar and Muthuraman are tricked by a con man who promises them visas to fly to Dubai. In order to protect their families from any harm, they decide to swap addresses.

Rosa is from Croatia and lives in Switzerland, with her husband who depends on her care. She takes care of everything. Her children have grown up and want to leave home. Rosa stays behind alone.

Une vie en transit, ou l'illusion du provisoire