Deptford double-bill from the London Migration Film Festival

Revenir by David Fedele and Kumut Imesh

Revenir is an immensely valuable film. Now living in France, Kumut Imesh, a refugee from the Ivory Coast, teams up with filmmaker David Fedele to retrace his journey through African and into Europe. With his current residency status still dangerously precarious, Kumut heads back to Africa alone, camera in hand.

And thus starts a truly brave, audacious and very risky endeavour that gives the viewing public in Europe the chance to see what that journey looks like for the desperate people undertaking it, in all its detail and humanity. The minute-to-minute struggles faced by Kumut are ultimately what provoke the most sympathy and outrage, more so than the macro-narratives of escape from war and poverty; Kumut falls seriously ill, he doesn’t have access to a bed or a shower, he is detained, his equipment is stolen... he is increasingly exhausted and depressed.

Ideally, Revenir would enjoy the widest possible distribution. I would love for it to be broadcast in schools and on television. This might go some way to change the all-pervasive ignorant narrative currently woven about African refugees.

More info about the film here.
Revenir will be screened at Deptford Cinema Monday 3 December, 7pm

Royal Cafe by Tenzin Dazel & Rémy Caritey

This is Swiss-Tibetan filmmaker Tenzin Dazel’s no-budget short about Paris’s Tibetan community in all its mundanity. Funny, sad, trivial little stories and interactions flourish around the central hub of the Royal Cafe, a popular meeting place. Sober, unexpectedly funny and touching, Dazel’s second effort establishes her as a serious, talented film director.

The film will be screened as part of an afternoon of shorts about gender and community at Deptford Cinema on 2 December at 5.30.