words rachel mok

A small but powerful collection of films chronicles the plight of refugees around the world

Organized by the United Nations Human Rights Council and Crossroads Foundation, the Refugee Film Festival will be held, in conjunction with the World Refugee Day on June 20, from June 21-26. Although called a festival, it is small fry when compared to, say, its Japanese counterpart which is now three years old and screened over 40 films last year: We are showing a single screening of each of only six films. But to Rosina Shing, fundraising manager of the UNHRC and organizer of the festival, that is already a good start: ‘Last year we only did a screening of Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, and the response was very good – so we are confident of a bigger festival this year, and will show Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars again.’

Although the UN estimates that worldwide 31.7 million refugees have yet to return to their homelands, the concept “refugee” is still very vague in Hong Kongers’ mindset. ‘But remember our ancestors may have been refugees as well – one third of the population in Hong Kong in the 1950s were refugees from the Mainland,’ says Shing, and she goes on to point out that on average every year about 1,000 refugees arrive in HK – mainly from Africa and Southeast Asia – and currently about 100 are waiting to be settled in countries recognizing the 1951 Refugee Convention, an international treaty protecting the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers. ‘Through these films and documentaries, we can really see the lie they are living and understand what problems they are facing,’ Shing maintains. She personally picked the films for the festival, her main criterion being that a film should not be boring. The selections cover refugee issues in various parts of the world, and on different levels, as Shing explains in our preview of each film.

Uganda Rising
Director: Pete McCormack, Jesse James Miller
In English and Arabic with English subtitles

An 82-minute Canadian documentary on civil-war-torn Uganda, narrated by actor Kelvin Spacey. Even after rebel leader Yoweri Museveni became the president of Uganda in 1986, the country continues to suffer from conflicts with the rebel group Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in the north. Children are often abducted, abused and forced to become child soldiers or sex slaves. The United Nations has called the situation the ‘world’s worst neglected humanitarian crisis’.

‘In the film a girl is interviewed, recalling how a rebel cut off her ear and mouth. She is calm recalling the mutilation, but you can clearly see the scars on her face. That makes you wonder what a life is worth when others can destroy you in any way they want. Another interview in the film tells the story of a woman who was abducted by a leader and got pregnant. She tried hard to escape to the refugee camp, and named her child Innocent. I am a mother myself, so I do feel their plight deeply. And that’s why I chose it as an opening film.’

The Black Pimpernel
Director: Asa Faringer, Ulf Hultberg
In English and Swedish with English and Chinese subtitles

A dramatic restaging of the true story of Harald Edelstam, the Swedish ambassador in Chile during the military coup in 1973. In the time of terror started by General Pinochet, Edelstam opened the doors of his embassy and saved thousands of refugees – including the most wanted person at the time, Miriam Contreras, President Allende’s private secretary and lover.

‘Audiences will find this film easier to understand as it is a drama. Edelstam has a noble spirit – he saved strangers who knocked on his door. That should inspire Hong Kong people – we are very blessed but we can still contribute to the world.’

The Devil Came on Horseback
Director: Ricki Stern, Annie Sundberg
In English and Arabic with English subtitles.

An 85-minute documentary recounting the unforgettable six months former United States Marine Brian Steidle served in Darfur as an unarmed military observer for the African Union. Unable to alter the situation in the region, he resigned, smuggled the thousands of pictures he took back to the States and published them. He continues to lecture about the situation in Darfur. The name of the film refers to the ‘Devil on Horseback’ – the Arab militias endorsed by the government to persecute non-Arab tribes.

‘Steidle has made lots of reports on what he witnessed but no one published them. At the end of the film you will see Barack Obama – he was still a senator at the time and gave a speech in a forum on the issue. He was very concerned about the situation in Africa before he was elected president, so we are looking forward very much to what he will do to help the region in the future.’

Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars
Directors: Zach Niles, Banker White
In English and Krio with English and Chinese subtitles

This documentary follows Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars, a musical troupe formed by refugees who suffered through the Sierra Leone civil war and met in a refugee camp in Guinea. For three years as they moved from camp to camp for shelter, they played traditional folk/reggae-influenced music, spreading a message of love and peace. The troupe were sponsored by the United Nations to return to Freetown, capital of Sierra Leone, to record their debut album, Living Like a Refugee, in a studio.

‘It is a very uplifting film. The biggest wish of refugees is to return to their homeland, which most of the musicians depicted in the film did. One didn’t want to – he recalls in an interview how he was forced to kill his family with his own hands by the rebel army. It is a deeply horrifying story – how would you imagine someone having to throw his own child in a storage jar and beat him to death? A few of the other musicians returned home and live a better life. I hope audiences will understand that given the chance, the refugees wish to rebuild their own life with their strength instead of sitting and waiting for help. They want to contribute too.’

New Year Baby
Director: Socheata Poeuv
In English and Cambodian with English and Chinese subtitles

Born in a refugee camp in Thailand on a New Year’s day not long after the Khmer Rouge horror and brought up in the US, director Socheata Poeuv travels with her parents back to their homeland to bring some closure to their family’s ordeal – something they never spoke about in the past. Winner of the Movies That Matter Award at the 2007 Amsterdam International Film Festival.

‘I don’t think the younger generation knows much about the Khmer Rouge. When Socheata takes her parents back to Cambodia, her parents seem fine with it. But as they approach the refugee camp, the camera captures how her father’s emotions change by the expressions on his face. The wounds in their hearts never heal.’

Screamers
Director: Carla Garapedian
In English with English and Chinese subtitles

With music by Grammy-winning rock band System of a Down, this documentary chronicles the politically savvy band’s efforts to persuade the British and US governments to recognize the Armenian genocide during and after WWI in the Ottoman Empire. At the same time, the film tracks modern-day genocides around the world, from Cambodia to Rwanda to Bosnia. One of the interviewees in the film, Hrant Dink, an advocator of minority rights in Turkey, was murdered in January 2007, shortly after the release of the film.

‘The Armenian genocide was never recognized by the government. If we don’t recognize history, will history repeat itself? Did it lead to the genocide of the Jewish population during WWII or the situation in Sudan now? [The dilemma is that] after the International Criminal Court [issued an arrest warrant for the country’s president, Omar al-Bashir, in March], 13 NGOs were expelled from the country, and a lot of refugees suffer as result of that.’

The Refugee Film Festival takes place from June 21-26 at Broadway Cinematheque. Ticket prices are $50 and for a schedule, visit www.cinema.com.hk. As for other events held in response to World Refugee Day or to learn more about humanitarian issues in HK, visit HYPERLINK "http://www.unhcr.org.hk" www.unhcr.org.hk.

No Place… No Face

A singer-songwriter sings the storis of the refugees as finale to the festival

Born in New South Wales, Australia, in 1990 singer-songwriter Helen Mottee gave up a job as a pianist in a hotel in Sydney to teach in a mining town in Zimbabwe. She lived there for 13 months, wrote her debut album They Told Me “This Is Africa” and won the 2001 ASA Songwriter of the Year award in her home country. She now works for humanitarian causes at Crossroads as well as writing songs about what she witnesses in the troubled regions she works in.

I have heard that you are now in Zimbabwe. What projects are you working on there, and how is Zimbabwe?
I have returned to Zimbabwe after 16 years primarily to see dear friends who are family to me, and who have been through as much suffering as the country itself has – and continues to go through. My visit was initiated by an email I received earlier this year, telling me that my friend had been arrested and imprisoned in Harare’s maximum-security prison. He has since been released, with all charges dropped, but it was a very difficult period for him and the whole family. I also have been able to take a suitcase of medical items and medicine for a hospital here and hope to connect with a potential consignee to whom Crossroads Foundation can send a container. Zimbabwe is home to me, as I lived there for 13 months in the early 1990s. I love this country and the people and have wanted to come back from the time I left!

Zimbabwe is actually the first song on your CD They Told Me “This Is Africa”. What was that song about, and how much of a change do you see in Zimbabwe today?
The song is an expression of the Zimbabwe that captured my heart and, in a sense, was like a musical photograph highlighting some of the beauty and uniqueness I experienced when I lived here. I remember someone saying to me many years ago, that there are only two responses one can have to Africa – one will either hate it or be ‘bitten’ and wooed by it and will forever want to return. The second happened to me. I fell in love with Zimbabwe and that love has never changed. My husband also proposed to me here, so it is a place of many special memories. Zimbabwe has gone through much change since I was last here. Currently there is a severe economic and humanitarian crisis. There is no Zimbabwe currency – everyone deals in US dollars. Education and medical care are in crisis; many schools and hospitals have been closed for months. Cholera and HIV are rife throughout the country.

In How Come It’s OK, you wrote ‘How come it’s OK for us to save a tree/But turn our hearts on 40 million refugees’ – I think that raises an important question. There are way too many problems in the world today – humanitarian, environmental, political, religious conflicts – the list goes on forever. But who has the right to decide, for example, that saving a human life is more important than saving a dog or a forest?
I believe that if we genuinely put our effort into humanitarian issues, ie people, no matter what their racial, economic, social or religious status, then the other issues will also be affected for positive change. Fair Trade is a great example of people (Third World producers) being genuinely helped economically, and this then having a positive ripple effect into their environment, education, health care and other important areas.

Music wise, who are some of the artists that you look up to and why?
In my early 20s, I was inspired by Carole King, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and the jazz composers of the 1930s and ’40s. Later I discovered Blossom Deary and her wonderfully clever and satirical songs, which I really enjoyed singing. I was drawn to these artists because they did what I so wanted to do – play, sing and write their own songs. I still enjoy singing their material. In recent years, Chris Rice has been a great inspiration as a musician and songwriter.

For you, is it a painful process or relief to transform the suffering you witness every day into music?
It is almost a relief to put into a song an experience or an idea. Many of my songs are stories, simply put to a melody and chords and it is a privilege to share them. I think the song that I find most difficult to sing at times is Do You because it is about real people who I know and love and who struggle for survival as refugees and asylum seekers.

Have you ever doubted the power of music and humanitarian work, if so, and how did you get through it?
I have never doubted the power of either. Humanitarian work is right and good and transforming when it is done with a pure motive to help others – unconditionally. I see this continually in the work I am involved in. Most people agree that music is one of the most powerful vehicles we know to transmit ideas and emotions. I believe totally that it is an arena that can, and should, be used for social justice and advocacy.

On using music to address social issues, some write angry/harsh music and lyrics to express their opinions. I feel your music is quite light-hearted but the lyrics are very critical. How you do balance the two? What, do you think, is the best way to get your message across to the audience?
I do not balance anything. The song grows in its own way and I recognize that its essence and message is something that is inspired, rather than something that I formulate and structure. The best way to get a message across to an audience is to be authentic as both a songwriter and a performer. I do not regard what I do as ‘entertainment’ and I totally believe what I am singing about, so there is no pretence. The message is what is important – and the fact that I believe it.

Helen Mottee will perform a live concert as the Refugee Film Festival Finale on June 26 at 10pm in Kubrick. Tickets are $100 from www.kubrick.com.hk/live or from Kubrick Yau Ma Tei or apm.