immigrant experience - Page 2 of 3

Holy Emy – AFI Fest 2021

Emy and her older sister Teresa live alone in Pireaus, the port City within greater Athens, after their mother is forced to return to the Philippines. They survive by avoiding the locals, attending church, and working at the local fish market. However, as their jobs fall through and Teresa grows more heavily pregnant, Emy seeks out Mrs. Christina to put her magical abilities to work. However, in coming out of hiding, Emy risks exposing her talents to the wrong people.

In Holy Emy, Emy and Teresa barely look old enough to care for themselves. They both look like teenagers but neither are in school – Teresa works at the local fish market, whilst Emy avoids most human contact now that her Mum has returned to the Philippines. It’s not clear why Emy didn’t return with her Mum. Perhaps her Mum thought she had enough support in Piraeus to stay whilst she returned home. She has her older sister, a neighbor that looks out for her (often condescendingly), and the support of the Filipino community at the local church.

The Filipino community is ‘othered’ in Holy Emy. All the Filipino characters are either overly devoted to Catholicism or have ancient powers which mimic Catholic Saints (hence the title). They’re also fetishized by the white characters in the movie. Teresa’s boyfriend keeps pointing out her Asian features when they’re making out, making it seem like he’s only into her because she looks exotic, whilst Mrs. Christina uses Emy, her mother, and other Filipinos for their magical abilities to heal people. There isn’t a reason why just the Filipinos have these old-world powers, which makes them appear even more exotic to the white characters. These defining characteristics fetishize the Filipinos in Holy Emy build up their ‘otherness’ vs. the white Greeks and Greek society.

Emy’s character in particular feels problematic. Her character, even more so than the rest of the Filipino community in this film, is made to seem unusual. She hardly speaks throughout the movie and is often pictured giving people creepy horror-film stares. Without a voice, she’s defined by her magical abilities: her ability to cry blood, heal, and control people through her touch and thoughts. Her silence and unusual abilities turn her into an old-world exotic fetish. Her character is just used as a tool to shock the audience and demonstrate her otherness. She, like the Filipino community in Holy Emy, are made to appear from another world – their magical powers and religious fervor don’t fit within modern Greek society. They’re fetishized for the sake of the quirkiness of this art-house body-horror.

Head to our AFI Fest 2021 Hub for more reviews and short films from AFI Fest 2021.

Indian Food and the British Asian Experience: A Collection of Short Films

Since the pandemic began, I’ve come across a lot of free films to watch online thanks to Cinema Tropical’s Daily Recommendations, Exmilitary’s collection of apocalyptic Eastern European films, as well as art cinemas like Arsenal Berlin unlocking selections of hidden films weekly. The free collections on the BFI Player are another great place to look. That’s where I came across this selection of short films focused Indian food in Britain and the British Asian experience in the 1970s and 1980s.

I’m British But…

You might know Gurinder Chadha from Bend It Like Beckham and Blinded by the Light but you probably haven’t seen her short documentary portrait of British Asians in the 1980s. It’s well worth watching to hear about what it means to be British and Asian from a selection of young people based in different corners of the country. It’s good to watch to be reminded of the cultural influences from South Asia that British people often take for granted. You’ll also get to actually hear the opinion of British Asians themselves – unfortunately still a rare sight in British film and TV.

London Me Bharat

London Me Bharat (India in London) is the first Hindi-language film made in Britain (1972). It’s a short documentary that feels a bit like a made-for-TV special as the narrator describes everything we see. It takes us from London’s main sights, full of tourists to Southall, a district where tourists probably haven’t heard of, which hosts one of the largest Indian communities in Britain. It’s a perfect short documentary for anyone not familiar with the origins of the Indian community in the U.K. and for anyone interested in seeing the multiculturalism of London.

Indian Sweets & Indian Sweets & Savories

These two short TV documentaries feature white British men raiding South Asian sweet shops in London. The first, Indian Sweets, features an incredibly bad mannered white presenter walking around behind the counter grabbing everything he fancies like he owns the place. After taking a bite of each he asks “what’s this then?” before adding it to the pile of sweets that starts to bulge in his hand. The low-light: when introduced to Jalebi’s, he shouts “Jelly Babies?” after taking a huge bite.

The white presenter in Indian Sweets & Savories is a little better. He at least asks the sweet shop owner before he grabs sweets. Unfortunately he relegates Indian food to unhealthy food you’d eat after a night out, fake burps after eating his Thali, and doesn’t do much to ingratiate himself to the restaurant owners that have invited him in. The behavior of both white TV presenters is a window into the Britain of the 1970s and 1980s.

New Ways

Created by Ealing and Hammersmith as an introduction for South Asian people moving to the UK, this 13 minute documentary sets out the basics for adapting to life in Britain. It makes you wonder how many people watched this before or right after arriving in the UK to start a new life. It hardly develops any kind of excitement for life in Britain as it monotonically emphasizes the cold dull weather. It’s patronizing tone must have drawn a lot of raised eyebrows too.

You can watch all of the short films about Indian Food and the British Asian Experience featured above for free on the BFI Player.

I’m No Longer Here – Losing Your Identity in a Foreign World

I’m No Longer Here Film Difficulty Ranking: 3

If you’re looking for an entry point into the Cholombiano sub culture of Monterrey, you’ve come to the right place. I’m No Longer Here has the cumbia music, the dance crews, the slang, and the unique haircuts. The narrative bounces between Monterrey and New York as it follows Ulises from leading a crew in his Mexican hometown, to his new exile in New York to escape the gangs he was mistakenly mixed up in. In New York, he never fits in. He’s only at peace when he’s listening to cumbia or dancing. Otherwise, he’s alone in a world where local Latinos make fun of him and where the Americans that like him can’t communicate with him. Tune in for the music, dancing, and ‘fish out of water’ immigrant experience.

From: Mexico, North America
Watch: Trailer, Netflix
Next: Wild Style, Los Lobos, Sin Nombre

Life is Fare – What it Means to be an Eritrean in America

Life Is Fare Film Difficulty Ranking: 2

Life is Fare is a Tigrinya/English feature film exploring three different experiences of the Eritrean diaspora living in the U.S. It uses different styles (drama, documentary, animation, fantasy) to construct a range of views on what it means to be Eritrean and living abroad. So, if you’re looking for a unique exploration of the immigrant experience in the U.S. Life is Fare is a movie to add to your watch-list.

From: U.S/Eritrea, North America
Watch: IMDb, Watch for Free on Film's Website
Next: Farewell Amor, Burial of Kojo, The Infiltrators

Delphine’s Prayers – AFI Docs Film Festival 2021

Delphine’s Prayers features a young Cameroonian woman baring her traumatic life story for the camera. In a personal one-on-one interview she recounts the death of her mother, her rape at 13, and her subsequent abandonment by her father which led her too an early life of prostitution to support herself and her daughter. She ended up marrying an old Belgian man that brought her to Europe. She came with some hope of a better life, but that has since dissipated, leaving her in poverty again.

The whole film is shot in one room in Belgium with each of the ~10 segments centering Delphine in the middle of the frame. She’s the only character on camera in this documentary until the very last scene. She’s also the only one who speaks, discounting a few prompts from the director to guide her life stories. Without any other characters, and no cuts away from Delphine, the film’s focus is completely on Delphine, leaving no room for the viewer to get distracted from her storytelling. It makes the documentary feel much more intimate – especially as Delphine is incredibly open throughout the film – but also sometimes a bit intrusive as it feels like her traumatic life story is being exploited to represent a bigger message.

The bigger message is to present Delphine’s traumatic life as one example of a generation of young African women that have been crushed by patriarchal societies at home and abroad. This message is brought together at the end of the film in a short scene in which the director talks over a visual of Delphine braiding her hair, speaking of their friendship in Europe. Because of their different backgrounds, they wouldn’t have crossed paths at home in Cameroon. However, in Europe, they’re both just seen as Black African women – reminders of Belgium’s colonial past.

Whilst it does feel a bit exploitative at times, delving into a wide range of stories from Delphine’s traumatic life, Delphine’s Prayers does give a voice to one Black African woman in Europe to represent a part of the African immigrant experience in Europe.