Dear All,
Please find below some information about a documentary being made about refugees and asylum seekers taking part in Refugee Week events. If you are interested in getting involved please contact Toby Fisher at tobyfisher@hotmail.com or Ben Silverstone at bensilverstone@gmail.com.
Best wishes,
Refugee Week UK Team
In a discourse dominated by grim media portrayals of asylum-seekers, our film will take a different approach. Having worked with asylum-seekers in the UK for several years, we want to capture some of the energy and creativity that we have seen in this diverse community. Our aim is to make a documentary about a project which harnesses the skills of asylum-seekers and refugees. We want to tell a story of talented people in a creative environment, and not a story of the legal and political complexities of asylum. The project we focus on might involve teenagers working towards a hip-hop gig or a choir preparing for a church concert or a drama group devising a theatrical production. It could be based around music or dance or literature or politics. The key element is that it should allow the viewer to watch a group of people engaged in a shared pursuit, and to forget – almost – the hardships that these individuals have faced, and continue to undergo. We hope that our film will contribute a little to the understanding of a group too often misunderstood. By witnessing the familiar and illuminating scenario of a group of people assembling to achieve a common goal, we want to tell the story of asylum in a new way. If you are planning a project that might be of interest, please get in touch with Toby Fisher (tobyfisher@hotmail.com) or Ben Silverstone (bensilverstone@gmail.com). ________________________ The film is independently produced and will be directed by Toby Fisher and Ben Silverstone. Toby is a documentary producer, lawyer and actor. He is currently Assistant Producer on the legal discussion programme ‘Unreliable Evidence’. He has taken an active interest in human rights and asylum for many years, regularly visiting Harmondsworth and Colnbrook detention centres with London Detainee Support Group, and working at the human rights charity Liberty. He has a masters in Human Rights law, and is due to begin life as a barrister from October 2008. Formerly, Toby was an actor, playing leading roles in film, television and theatre. Ben has wide-ranging experience in the field of asylum and immigration detention. He has worked for UNHCR and Bail for Immigration Detainees, as well as acting as a visitor to Harmondsworth Immigration Removal Centre with London Detainee Support Group. Ben is also an actor, having appeared in many film and TV productions, and has collaborated as a script writer on documentaries. He is shortly to complete a Masters in Public International Law at the London School of Economics.
This communication is from British Refugee Council, (commonly called the Refugee Council), which is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales, [No 2727514], with its registered office at 240-250 Ferndale Road, London SW9 8BB, United Kingdom. British Refugee Council is also a registered charity, [No 1014576]. For our full email disclaimer go to http://www.refugeecouncil.org.uk/email which is deemed to be incorporated.
