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How a U.K. Charity is Working Directly with Refugees to Bring Greater Authenticity to Migration Stories on Screen
How Counterpoints is bringing those with lived experience of being a refugee or migrant onto film and TV projects to ensure authenticity
In her 2022 Toronto curtain raiser “ The Swimmers,” telling the true story of two Syrian sisters and their emotional and gruelling journey to Europe to escape the civil war, director Sally El-Hossaini went to great lengths to ensure authenticity, using real-life refugees both in-front of and behind the camera. At last year’s Venice Film Festival, two high-profile features tackled the subject matter in Matteo Garrone’s “ Io Capitano ” — which won the Italian filmmaker the Silver Lion for best director — and Agnieszka Holland’s jury prize-winning “ Green Border.” Both were highly praised for their truthful depictions of the refugee journey and humanising those involved. Syrian activist and filmmaker Waad Al-Kateab, for example, fled Aleppo and sought asylum in the U.K., where her documentary “For Sama” — chronicling her life raising a child during the civil war — won a BAFTA film award in 2019 (her 2023 doc “We Dare to Dream,” followed members of the Olympic refugee team and was produced by Angelina Jolie).
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