In search of truth.
On February 24, 2022, Russian troops invaded Ukraine under orders from Vladimir Putin, thus beginning the most significant conflict in Europe since World War II, Bosnia, and Herzegovina, and sparking the largest internal refugee crisis in almost a century. Calamity and Mercy is the story of the aftermath. The human voice of the conflict acting as a direct counterpoint to ethnic Nationalism and Russian propaganda used to dehumanize their victims and justify naked aggression.
Gates of Friendship is a story born of the disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan by the United States, but ultimately it is the tale of the translators and families forced to stand in courage once more. Beyond the nameless masses shown hanging from aircraft and sprinting down runways to escape, this is a story of individuals, forced to flee their homeland, desperate for safety and the promise of a new life.
Tahriib slips away the mask of anonymity shrouding the 1.8 million refugees who’ve entered Europe since 2014. Through their own words six refugees detail their previous lives, dangerous journeys from Africa to the West, and attempts to integrate into Western culture. Each unique narrative serves emphasizes our shared human experience. Alongside, social and other aid workers provide a framework for challenges new immigrants often face as they attempt integration.
A series of intimate portraits, conversations that could happen over a kitchen table bathed in natural light. Conversations that become almost reverent in their contrast between the humanity of the speaker and the stark tragedy they’ve endured. Much like Vittorio De Sica’s Two Women, our goal is to underscore the devastating impact of conflict, creating empathy with a shared experience. Even as the narratives are a collection of grim road trips, we are left with a sense of hope that these horrific events can be endured and overcome.
No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.
Since the peak of the current refugee crisis in 2014, over 1.8 million refugees have entered Europe, fleeing from violence, persecution, poverty, war, and starvation. While the flood of refugees has slowed somewhat in the last three years, the inflammatory, often inaccurate rhetoric surrounding the topic of immigration and refugees has spiked again, leading to a growing surge of anti-immigrant voices in both the US and Europe as well as an increase in violence toward refugees.
Help us challenge the growing culture of fear concerning refugees and migrants by creating empathy and underscoring our common ground.
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