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FOMACS presents 'Promise and Unrest' at Jameson Dublin Film Festival
03 February 2010
'Promise and Unrest', a documentary feature by Alan Grossman and Áine O’Brien, will premiere at the Jameson Dublin Film Festival (JDIFF) on the 19th of February 2010.
The film tells the story of Noemi Barredo, who was separated from her infant daughter, Gracelle, when she left the Philippines for work in Malaysia, in order to support her parents and extended family. Barredo subsequently arrived in Ireland to work in 2000. According to the filmmakers, Promise and Unrest is an intimate portrayal of a migrant woman performing care giving and long-distance motherhood, while assuming the responsibility of sole provider for her family back in the Philippines. Dublin may be a long way from Noemi’s hometown of Babatngon, yet she retains a sharp eye on the welfare of her family, attentive to a range of small businesses she has financed, and paying for the education of her daughter and son, medication for her terminally ill father and her sister’s nursing degree. The film observes the everyday intricacies of Noemi and Gracelle’s relationship, their subsequent reunion in Ireland and the beginnings of a domestic life together in the same country for the first time. Promise and Unrest unravels a familiar yet subtle migration story of maternal sacrifice, loss and love, yet to be seen in Irish cinema. It was filmed over a five-year period.