Burden of Proof is a short animated film about the asylum process in Ireland. It works with animation, voiceover narration and sound track to remind audiences of the historical context for the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees. This short 3 min project portrays the journey that a mother and son take in order to reach Ireland, apply for asylum and access safety.

The film was made in conjunction with FOMACS and the Irish Refugee Council and premiered in Dublin on 18 June as part of a European-wide series of events marking World Refugee Day. The animation will have an accompanying information guide and will serve as an educational tool to reach different audiences, including primary and secondary schools; and NGO outreach and community-led programmes.

Animator/Designer: Siobhan Twomey (FOMACS)

Script Writer: Róisín Boyd (Irish Refugee Council)

Aodán Ó Coileáin: Sound Designer and Post-production (FOMACS)

Produced by: FOMACS

Podcast on The Curious Ear, RTÉ One, February 2010.

According to The Curious Ear:

In this programme, Neltah tells the engaging story of her sister and a man named Taurai. Taurai and Melody grew up in Zimbabwe. Taurai was born albino and was taunted in the street because of it. When he first asked Melody out, she refused but her cousin 'blackmailed' her into accepting. She fell in love with him. Melody shared in the abuse Taurai received for being different. They also shared a life of laughs, cooking and gardening. They came to Ireland and had a daughter, Siobhán. Then, in 2008, Melody and Siobhán lost Taurai. In this story, Neltah hears from her family about their love and loss.

This programme was researched and crafted in the context of a FOMACS' radio mentoring programme Having Your Voice Heard, supported by the 'Migrants and the Media' project under EPIM and co-ordinated/produced by Roísín Boyd, a radio journalist working with FOMACS’ partner, the Irish Refugee Council. 

You can access the story here

The idea for Learning Lab stems from an understanding that ‘transformative education’ initiatives allow for communities of learners to emerge in a space outside the academy and within civil society.

The Learning Lab ‘Identities and Social Justice’ opens a space for a focused discussion on the theme of identities aligned with the concept of social justice. Learning Lab bridges debates about cultural identity with principles of social equality – connecting questions about race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, gender, culture, language and religion, in addition to youth and age.

Learning Lab is designed as a space in which a community of learners emerges over time; where the learning process is shaped by diverse social actors, including advocates, educators, community activists/leaders, media makers and journalists, union officials and social innovators.

Learning Lab creates a cross-sector learning environment where participants engage in collective dialogue, supporting a form of ‘learning in the context of our lived experience of participation in the world’, one which engages in and contributes to the practices of communities (Wenger).

Drawing on a series of established projects in Australia, Canada and the UK, Learning Lab sessions are led by three international public intellectuals, writers, and activists:

Andrea Durbach, Director of Australian Human Rights Centre at the Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Australia

Handel Kashope Wright, Director of the Centre for Culture, Identity and Education, University of British Columbia, Canada and Board Member of the Highlander Research and Education Center, Tennessee, USA

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, UK based broadcast journalist, writer and public speaker on race and cultural identities

Learning Lab runs for three successive days, with three labs scheduled for April, May and September, 2010

If you wish to find out more about Learning Lab and how to become a participant, please visit Learning Lab and go to ‘Participating’ and fill out the application form.

Building on the combined work of FOMACS and the British Council, Learning Lab forges a collaboration that recognizes the complimentary interests of each partner, drawing on a range of resources and established cultural, social and political networks on the island of Ireland and beyond. Learning Lab works in association with Instituto Cervantes.

Abiba Ndeley was one of six migrant women taking part in a radio mentoring course, ‘Having your Voice Heard’, run by FOMACS. This radio mentoring programme is part-funded by EPIM (European Programme for Integration and Migration) under the ‘Migrants and the Media’ project.

The 12 radio classes, mentored and taught by broadcaster Roisin Boyd, explored a range of topics, such as the relationship between ‘voice’ and ‘accent’ – issues of particular interest to migrants who wish to break into the Irish broadcasting sector.

One day Abiba was telling Roisin about her neighbours in Pearse Street Flats in Dublin; Roisin said ‘why don’t you interview them’? Suggesting that it would be interesting to hear how Abiba was now part of an inner city community in Dublin and to hear the voices of the women who live nearby.

Abiba’s documentary ‘Neighbours’ is a brief snapshot of Abiba’s life growing-up in Cameroon; leaving for Ireland and starting a new life in Dublin. It explores the similarities and differences of her hometown, Limbe, and her new found home in Dublin – in the city centre flats, where she lives with her husband and 4 kids.

Abiba says that 'when she first came to live in Ireland, she was given to understand that the society had changed over the years, and people were more likely to keep to themselves.

In the flats, however, she met with a completely different scenario. The kids especially were very friendly and took to her children instantly. She also found that her neighbours were very helpful and always willing to share valuable information and help out with various DIY chores.

The documentary celebrates the prevalent community spirit in the flats; the interviews with two of her neighbours, who are now more or less like family to her, highlights this'.

For more information see Having your Voice Heard

Sanctuary

'Sanctuary' is a collection of stories of people seeking asylum in Ireland in association with Storytellers of Ireland and the Irish Refugee Council. In 24 ultra-short monologues, all less than one minute long, people who have sought asylum and received refuge in Ireland tell their stories – in their own words, but performed by actors and writers living in Ireland. From George Seremba's extraordinary story of escaping death in Milton Obote's Uganda, told by the actor himself, to the stories of children being sent into exile alone, of people stuck in legal limbo in the asylum system, and of people triumphing over huge odds to make new lives in Ireland, Sanctuary tells stories of loss, survival, tragedy and perseverance.

'Sanctuary' stars Sebastian Barry, Marian Keyes, Mick Lally, Eileen Walsh, Aidan Kelly, and other leading performers and writers.

Directed by Barrie Dowdall; Script: Colin Murphy; Casting coordinator: Jack Lynch; Camera: Joe McKeever and Barry MacNeill; Editor: Kevin de la Isla O’Neill; Producers: Áine O’Brien and Alan Grossman, FOMACS.

'Sanctuary' travels to public venues and classrooms across Ireland and is produced by FOMACS in solidarity with Ice and Fire Theatre Company, UK. The 'Sanctuary' project combines screenings of monologues with live performance, in addition to input from advocates at the Irish Refugee Council. Should you wish to find out more about this traveling show and book it for your organisation, please contact, Aileen Blaney, FOMACS Exhibitions Programmer at 4027126; or email:aileenfomacs@gmail.com.  

For a related FOMACS’ project see ‘Living in Direct Provision: 9 Stories’.

For a range of like-minded media projects go to Links.

This combined DVD and booklet comprises documentation and commentary on the stories produced in the ‘Undocumented in Ireland: Our Stories’ Workshop – the result of a collaboration between FOMACS and the MRCI.

In addition to the digital stories on the DVD the booklet includes:

• A summary of the goals of the MRCI ‘Bridging Visa Campaign’ Group

• An explanation of the collaborative methodology underpinning digital storytelling

• A short updated biography of the storytellers alongside their individual scripts

• A brief description of the weekly workshop written by the facilitator and creative director, Darcy Alexandra

• A synopsis of what happens to migrant workers when they become undocumented

• Excerpts and recommendations from the MRCI publication ‘Life in the Shadows – An Exploration of Irregular Migration in Ireland’

• A list of cross-references and links for further exploration, should you choose to research the issues in more depth

This educational package (with a combination of media and written text) offers a helpful guide for people wishing to discuss the issue of irregular migration in a variety of contexts.

Please click resources for details on how to purchase this pack.

An example of the work-in-progress of animator, Rory Byrne, and FOMACS' animation supervisor, Siobhán Twomey. The animated sequences with voice-over by union activist, Anton McCabe, will feature in the forthcoming documentary, 'Union, Ink and Paper', where you can find more information on the project.

Living in Direct Provision: Digital Storytelling Workshop

The ‘Living in Direct Provision’ Digital Storytelling workshop took place over a 6-month period (September 2008 - February 2009). The workshop ran in collaboration with our NGO partners, Integrating Ireland and the Refugee Information Service. Throughout, 9 storytellers engaged in a collaborative process that integrated storytelling, group and individual reflection, creative writing, photography and the use of multi-media technologies. They made a 3-5 minute story about their own experiences as asylum seekers and refugees.

The stories and perspectives produced in this workshop speak to a variety of issues effecting asylum seekers and families who have had or are currently living in the direct provision system. They speak to the experiences of separated and fragmented families; the lived effects of exile and social segregation; the impact on children growing up in the 'direct provision' system; a shared sense of wanting to contribute through work and to be a part of Irish culture and society; in addition to hopes for the future and new beginnings.

These subjective accounts are not intended to be representative ‘asylum’ stories but instead offer important subjective insights on what it means to live everyday and over time in the ‘direct provision’ system. The workshop and the stories provide a platform for individual expression - to have heretofore silent voices heard.

A comprehensive educational pack is currently being developed to accompany these stories and will be available for use. We’ll keep you updated on this outreach product.

Go to 'More Info' for references to other digital storytelling projects in London and South Africa and for more background information on the direct provision system in Ireland.

See a selection of the digital stories below.

Committed to transferring knowledge and media skills to our partner organisations and extended networks, FOMACS hosted a weeklong facilitator training digital storytelling workshop in May 2009. Visiting workshop facilitators and trainers included, Daniel Wenshenker, Special Projects and Denver Office Director and Jennifer LaFontaine, Toronto Region Director, at the Center for Digital Storytelling, Berkeley, in addition to Darcy Alexandra, FOMACS' digital storytelling coordinator and PhD scholar in the Centre for Transcultural Research and Media Practice.  

This workshop explored the principles, methods, software tools, aesthetic considerations, ethical dilemmas, and curriculum issues that facilitators must consider when teaching or assisting with the digital storytelling process in their own environments.

Participants in the facilitation training included individuals working in and associated with partner organisations in FOMACS: the Irish Refugee Council, Migrant Rights Centre, Integrating Ireland, the Centre for Transcultural Research and Media Practice, alongside participants from the previous digital storytelling workshop ‘Living in Direct Provision’, in addition to AkIDwA and networks associated with the FOMACS ‘A Sikh Face in Ireland’ project. 

In May 2009, Colin Murphy hit the roads of Ireland on the campaign trail with some of the 40 immigrants who ran in the local elections. In Dublin, Limerick, Monaghan and Donegal, he talked to candidates and the people they were canvassing about the issues and the practicalities of local politics in Ireland. From Patrick Maphoso's activist independent politics on Dublin's northside to Anna Rooney's staunch support for the Government in Clones, this project charts the diversity of experience and opinion amongst an emerging group of politicians. Ultimately, the experience was a sobering one for many of those. "It will take a long time for people to get used to immigrants participating in the elections," said Maphoso, "but the first generation have to pave the way." In Letterkenny, Michael Abiola Phillips is also philosophical: "I won't be disappointed even if I don't get in this time around," he said. "It means I have to work harder."

The project resulted in a series of print articles and radio broadcasts. Articles ran in the Sunday Tribune and Le Monde Diplomatique (the latter accompanied by a podcast); a 20-minute radio documentary is to be podcast on RTE Choice and an eight-minute version will be broadcast on The Curious Ear on RTE Radio One at 6.45pm on December 5. A version of the 20-minute documentary has also been broadcast by Radio France International in the Crossroads programme.

Patrick Maphoso (right) canvassing in Dublin. Photo: Mark Condren, Sunday Tribune.

For related articles click here.

Additional Patrick Maphoso photo courtesy: Metro Éireann

Coordinated by Roísín Boyd, a radio journalist working with FOMACS’ partner, the Irish Refugee Council, Having your Voice Heard, is a 12-week radio mentoring programme, part-funded by the ‘Migrants and the Media’  EPIM supported project. Other lecturers/practitioners involved in the programme include radio producer, Pat Hannon, and journalist, Colin Murphy, in addition to a range of visiting practitioners.   

We have chosen a media mentoring methodology to facilitate skills transfer and access to the media industry for migrant women. Participants were recruited on the basis of their commitment to this field of media production and their desire to enter the media industry in Ireland. The decision to recruit women is to address a gender in-balance in the media, specifically in relation to the participation of migrant women.   

The course is designed to introduce participants to the fundamentals of radio journalism in the context of the short documentary genre. In this framework, participants learn combined skills in audio and documentary production:

• Documentary research
• Recording skills and interviewing/oral history methods
• Writing for radio and pitching and marketing your story
• Principles of sound editing working alongside an experienced editor

The thematic for the mentoring workshop is ‘The Family’ following agreement of the participants. 

The interviews featured on this page illustrate the mentoring methodology and the research and production process undertaken by the participants. Hear the voices and meet the participants in the photo voice sequence above, as they explore workshop themes in conversation with mentor, Roisin Boyd.  Diverse ranges of subject areas are discussed, such as gender, identity, power relations, community, integration, memory, history and tradition.

See here for further details on the radio mentoring curriculum and workshop structure, in addition to outputs and outcomes.

Listen here to excerpts from all six stories.

A series of Spokesperson and Media Training Workshops took place over the course of 18 months with workshop leader/trainer, Frank Sharry (Executive Director of America’s Voice, Washington, DC). The workshops enabled key spokespersons to prepare and practice for high stakes media work; and to explore the viability of adapting the training model so as to conduct trainings for other colleagues and constituents.

The workshops were filmed with a two-camera set up by filmmaker Barrie Dowdall. Journalists participating in the workshops included Richard Delevan, Emer Woodfull and Frank Connolly. Many of the workshops focused on message preparation, practice interviews, campaign planning and the current media and communications challenges participants face in their day-to-day work. Workshops were designed to facilitate both the beginner and the expert to significantly improve upon their level of skill and comfort in their media work. Key areas of focus: ‘Public Opinion’; ‘Message Development’; ‘The Questions You Fear’; ‘Interview Practice’; ‘Campaign Planning’; and ‘Messenger Recruitment’. 

Dedicated workshops were also held with the Immigrant Council of Ireland Leadership Programme; in addition to advocacy strategy sessions with the Migrant Rights Centre, the Immigrant Council of Ireland, Integrating Ireland, Irish Refugee Council and Refugee Information Service.  

A 90-minute DVD of the workshops will be available to purchase in July 2009. 

See events archive for a full list of workshops. 

Abbi's Circle - New Beginnings

In the final chapter of Abbi’s Circle, the group of friends prepare for their school’s winter concert. The song they write together celebrates the fact that their diverse backgrounds form a strong unifying bond, but their performance hinges on the participation of Sanjay - whose family discovers they are at risk of becoming ‘undocumented’ and may be forced to leave the country.

It is, therefore, through young peoples eyes and their own sense of solidarity – what is fair and not fair – that the issue of ‘undocumented migrants’ is explored. A hugely complex area, to be sure, and one that is confusing at best for publics, as they try to make sense of the complicated policy and legal rhetoric surrounding the issue. Yet increasingly, it is children who are made most vulnerable when families either face the crisis of falling into irregular status or are living in an ‘undocumented’ – sans-papier, clandestine – state.

New Beginnings tackles the challenging issue of being undocumented in Ireland and explores how this affects the lives of families who fall out of regulated status through no fault of their own. Building on case studies produced by our partner the Migrant Rights Centre , the film portrays the inflexibility of a bureaucratic system, and offers an image of how a new generation of young Irish children might inherit a shared legacy of diversity and inclusion.

Team Spirit - Film & Teaching Pack

The animated short film, Team Spirit, is a follow-up to the award-winning Memory Box, and is accompanied by a new Teaching Pack that has been written by practicing teachers, Liz Morris and Niamh McGuirk.

Building on the innovative approach established in The Memory Box Teaching Pack, the strength of this pack is its focus on the primary school curriculum, offering suggestions for use in SPHE, History, Geography, Visual Arts, Mathematics and more.

The pack approaches global topics such as Refugees, Family Reunification, Sport and Racism by employing a combination of in-depth background information sections for teachers, together with a broad range of lesson ideas that are both child-friendly and age-appropriate.

The Team Spirit Film and Teaching Pack is a highly creative resource for teachers and an important, practical asset for intercultural education, one that promises to engage and captivate children.

This teaching pack is part-subsidised by State Street Philanthropy.

Please click resources for details on how to purchase this pack.

Production Overview:

Filmed over the course of a four-month period, this short film documents the collaborative process behind the making of Team Spirit, the second part of the Abbi’s Circle trilogy.  It captures the team in action, as they come together to translate the impact of public policy on real-life circumstances and to breathe life into the drawings and characters that make up the animation.

The team began by working with case studies from the Refugee Information Services. The Family Reunification and Integration Officer at RIS, Wale Mogaji, worked closely with director of the animation, Siobhán Twomey, dramaturge, Bisi Adigun, and primary school teacher, Liz Morris, to create a sensitive and measured depiction of the often traumatic and highly stressful situation that people in the family reunification process face on a daily basis. Together the writing team crafted the script, which began to take shape through developing established characters and situations from the first film, The Memory Box.

Once again we meet Abbi, who has to deal in her own way with the tensions caused between her everyday lived experience and the vagaries of government policy regarding migrants. The characters of Abbi, Lucy, Sadiq and Lillian were brought to life by a group of talented voice actors, under the careful direction of Bisi Adigun who worked closely with each actor individually, instilling in them a real sense of what the characters were feeling and going through - thus giving the story it’s resonance and poignancy.  Finally, Owen Tighe steered the production through postproduction sound to its conclusion, by polishing the music, voice tracks and sound effects.

Context and Mixed-Methodology:

Abbi’s Circle is a three-part animation film series addressing issues to do with ‘family reunification’ and the complexities of migrant family life in Ireland, involving writers, animators, young primary school children, NGO advocates, a dramaturge, a sound recordist and school teachers. The animation began in the context of a conversation with our NGO partners as they worked to translate and communicate the often arcane and legalistic language shaping their case files on ‘family reunification’ to a larger audience. Behind every case file is a human subject wishing to be reunited with a spouse, children or siblings, vulnerable to the intricacies and contradictions of immigration law in Ireland. How to get beyond the appropriate legalistic anonymity of the case file and render the issues real in the eyes of a diverse set of publics? This was our starting problematic. 

The core of the project emanated from a serious discrepancy in the ‘Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill’, which does not guarantee family reunification for legally resident migrants to be joined by their family members in Ireland. In the light of the fact that ‘The Universal Declaration of Human Rights’ expressly recognises that ‘the family is the natural unit of society and is therefore entitled to protection from society and the state’ and that the ‘family’ is also defined and protected in the same manner within the Irish constitution, our NGO partners argue for a statutory right for family reunification, drawing on similar provisions applying to refugees. It is also the case that while refugees (that is, people who have been granted refugee status) are entitled to family reunification, the application process is lengthy and filled with bureaucratic roadblocks, resulting in real hardship and pain of separation for families, particularly children.

Narrative agency is firmly placed in the hands of a group – aged between 9-12 – and who were attending a non-denominational school in Dublin. The reach of this agency was extended further, however, since each story in the animation series is accompanied by a teaching resource, written by teachers for teachers, designed to move across the curriculum through subjects such as English, geography, history, arts, music, etc. The director of the animation series, Siobhan Twomey, coined the term ‘docu/mation’, hence blurring the genres of documentary and animation. This allowed us to work from the original case files, which while written in the third person were based on authentic accounts as told to NGO advocates. It was clear from the start of this project that any media intervention could not ‘reveal’ the identity of immigrant families, who for obvious reasons did not wish to jeopardize their application for family reunification.

The collaboration is thus tested through a constant re-versioning of an original case study taking it through a detailed process of translation: in the first instance, with the writing of the animation script, a back story is stylized and rendered quietly dramatic, marking out a textual space for a cast of characters.  The move from the textual to the visual is mediated through detailed storyboarding – hand drawn and then digitised in the computer. Bisi Adigun who carefully choreographed the voices also conducted the casting for characters. It is here that the characters come alive activating a set of transnationalised spaces, reflecting what Roger Rouse calls the ‘transnational migrant circuit’ (spaces linked through familial, social and economic ties, comprising multiple yet interconnected networks).

Most challenging in this work has been the insertion of what Hamid Naficy, borrowing from Raymond Williams’ calls ‘accented structures of feeling’; in this case, the emergent accented voices of the young children performing the animated characters and who are part of a growing cast and network of co-producers illustrating the behind the scenes production team. The collaborative circle is widened further with the piloting of the project in primary schools across Ireland, in addition to the ongoing challenge of embedding the project in the national teacher-training curriculum.

In close collaboration with the Refugee Information Service and working from their case studies, Team Spirit continues the story of Abbi and her circle of friends, introducing us to Sadiq, a young convention refugee from Darfur. In this second installment of the animation series, the cast expands and yet retains a continuity of actors, while building a range of accents: Oyin Animashaun (Abbi); Lauren Murphy (Lucy); Ngor Tong (Sadiq); Yemi Adengua (Lillian); and Gabriel Peelo (Coach).

During a treacherous game of football against rival team ‘The Bashers’, Abbi and her friend, Lucy, find out that Sadiq and his mother are refugees living in Ireland. Sadiq explains that the rest of his family, along with his grandmother, is waiting in Darfur for their family reunification visas to be processed. Against the backdrop of a grueling football match, Abbi once again comes up against the gap between her lived experience and the vagaries of government policy regarding migrants. Sadiq’s situation, like so many refugees living in Ireland, means that he has had to wait up to two years for his family’s visas to be processed. In addition, he learns that his grandmother must remain behind in Darfur because she is not considered to be a family member within the narrow definition set out in Irish immigration policy.

Introducing an exciting new resource for primary schools on immigration and cultural diversity in Ireland: 'The Memory Box: Film and Teaching Pack'.

The Pack includes:

The pack has been written by practicing teachers, Liz Morris and Niamh McGuirk, with a specific focus on implementing the primary school curriculum.

It offers suggestions for use in SPHE, History, Geography, Visual Arts, Mathematics and more.

Click 'More Info' for further details on resource pack and a review by Barbara O'Toole, Marino Institute of Education.

Please click resources for details on how to purchase this pack. 

A Sikh Face in Ireland was first conceived at the FOMACS launch in 2007 when a group of young Sikhs – men and women led by Satwinder Singh – approached the photographer, Glenn Jordan, to ask if he would be interested in photographing the Sikh community in Ireland. It was a spontaneous request and a direct response to seeing Jordan’s photographic work, Somali Elders: Portraits from Wales, at the launch. Yet it forcefully illustrated their collective desire to be fully represented in contemporary Ireland and to counter the stereotypical depictions of Sikh communities post 9/11, which they were confronting on a daily basis.

From its inception this photographic and life history project has been conceived as a collaborative journey and has moved from strength to strength during the past two years, culminating in the production of a ‘living archive’ of the Sikh community on the island of Ireland. Like all ‘living archives’ it does not claim to be an exhaustive portrait, but is, instead, vibrant and open-ended - to be viewed and explored by a range of interested communities.

(Dir. Alan Grossman & Áine O’Brien, 2009, forthcoming)

This documentary film (in postproduction), narrates the story of Anton McCabe, a trade union activist, and his commitment to equality in the workplace for non-EU migrants on temporary work permits in Ireland. For Anton, the exploitation of migrant workers by unscrupulous employers engenders a passionate engagement with workers’ rights. The speed, volume and intensity of Anton’s work is reflected in the hand-held close-up camera style of the film, capturing the ‘messiness’ of labour conditions for migrant workers in the ‘low-skilled’ economy. Anton is constantly on the move with mobile in hand, accumulating case after case, mediating between migrant workers in the construction, mushroom, meat and catering industries, and employers, immigration departments and the media. The film follows Anton’s advocacy of three South African meat workers trafficked into Ireland by an industry preoccupied with the short-term gains of cheap labour from outside the EU. Anton helps to regularise the status of these workers, stranded by their Irish employer and ‘undocumented’ through no fault of their own, offering them and their families dignity and security. The film also documents Anton as he campaigns for a seat on local council and will feature animated sequences, produced by animator Rory Byrne, and FOMACS' animation supervisor Siobhán Twomey with voice-over by Anton, to narrate the conditions of migrant workers in his immediate locality. To find more information on this part of the project visit the project page here.

Shot over a period of three years and part-funded by the Irish Film Board, this ethnographic documentary film is an intimate portrait of Filipino nurse Fidel Taguinod and the public expression of his political activism, in dialogue with civil society representatives, challenging and probing the inadequacies of immigration policy in Ireland. The film poses a fundamental question regarding the promotional prospects of migrant nurses, working in the Irish healthcare service. 

Fidel leads the viewer through a series of migrant-led events, illustrating the political mobilisation of overseas nurses and how trade unionism develops in a rapidly expanding multiracial Irish society. Through a sustained period of observational filming on the hospital ward, the film depicts Fidel’s managerial competence, his working relations with patients, consultants, Irish and overseas nursing staff. Tracking the mobilisation of the Overseas Nurses Section of the Irish Nurses Organisation (INO) from its inception, with Fidel as President, Here To Stay captures the evolution of political process over time, highlighting critical debates in Section meetings and within INO conferences. Fidel’s world outside the hospital environment, his domestic life where he lives with his Irish partner, is further explored, as is the negotiation of his gay identity in public performances such as ‘Miss Alternative Philippines’ and ‘Diva Manila’, in which he playfully mixes gay politics with migrant and multicultural issues.

Click 'More Info' for further details on this project.

Glenn Jordan’s ‘Mothers and Daughters’, a series of portraits with accompanying texts, was exhibited at the Civic Offices, Dublin, and at FOMACS, in November 2007. This exhibition was opened in conjunction with the launch of the Immigrant Council of Ireland Report, ‘Feminisation of Migration: Experiences and Opportunities in Ireland’ by Jane Pillinger.

‘The women in this exhibition are from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds. For example, the selection of images portrays subjects whose parents or grandparents were Indian, Algerian, Maltese, French, English, Irish, Norwegian, Swedish, West Indian, Ghanaian and Sierra Leonean – i.e., in addition to often being Welsh...I am interested in using photography and oral history to explore their journeys – their journeys across space (from one country to another) as well as across time (their experiences through their lives. I typically begin my interviews by asking: who are you? I record these interviews, so that their voices can be heard, together with their images’ (Glenn Jordan, 2007).

Click 'More Info' for further details on this project.

'Photography often shows us things - people, places, faces, everyday life - we had failed to notice before. Through humanist, empathetic portraits of older Somali men, ‘Somali Elders’ seeks to open eyes - to confront stereotypes and misrepresentations. I hope the faces and experiences featured in this exhibition will be a source of education, inspiration and pride' (Glenn Jordan, 2007).

Glenn Jordan’s ‘Somali Elders’ series of portraits, with accompanying texts, was exhibited at FOMACS in March 2007.

Click 'More Info' for further details on this project.

These digital stories were conceived, edited, produced and shared within a community of learners. As producers of the media, using their own personal archives and crafting their script with an emphasis on the centrality of ‘voice’, these short 2-3 min pieces reflect a pedagogy of community based learning and media activism. Members of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI), ‘Bridging Visa Campaign Group’, have campaigned for the Irish Government to introduce a temporary permission to remain – or ‘Bridging Visa’ – to allow workers, who have become undocumented through no fault of their own, a route back into the system.

Abdel, Lyubov and Zaman came to Ireland with the hopes of building a better future for themselves and their families. From Morocco, Ukraine and Bangladesh, they entered Ireland legally. Due to diverse circumstances outside of their control, they fell out of legality. These three stories speak to their experiences as undocumented people from the perspective of the tellers themselves.

Click ‘More Info’ for further details on this project.

Promise and Unrest

Dir. Alan Grossman and Áine O’Brien (2010)

Separated from her daughter Gracelle at 7 months, Noemi Barredo left the Philippines for work in Malaysia to support her parents and extended family before arriving in Ireland in 2000. Filmed over a five-year period Promise and Unrest is an intimate portrayal of a migrant woman performing caregiving 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, paying for the education of her daughter and son, medication for her terminally ill father and her sister’s nursing degree. Through the camera lens, the film captures the everyday intricacies of Noemi and Gracelle’s relationship, their 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.

For references on long-distance motherhood and women, migration and caregiving, see 'more info'.  You can also visit the official 'Promise and Unrest' website.

Festival Screenings   2010

Jameson Dublin international Film Festival, Real to Reel Section, Cineworld, Premiere Screening, February.

DMZ Korean Documentary Film Festival, Paju City, Korea, International Competition, September.

16th International Film Festival ETNOFILM CADCA 2010, Slovakia, Main Competition, October.

San Diego Asian Film Festival, Jury Competition, USA, October.

Documentary and animation combine in this award winning 'documation' about migrant family life in Ireland. Developed in collaboration with our NGO partners and drawing from their case studies, Abbi’s Circle is a series of three animated short films on the topic of immigration in Ireland with a particular focus on Family Reunification.

Aimed at 10 -13 year olds, their parents and teachers, each film has an accompanying Teaching Pack that has been written for 5th and 6th class. The packs focus on the primary curriculum, offering suggestions for use in SPHE, History, Geography, Visual Arts, Mathematics and more.

The 'Memory Box' was produced in collaboration with our NGO partner, the Immigrant Council of Ireland, and the story begins when Abbi, a young Nigerian girl living in Dublin, asks her father to visit her for the graduation ceremony that will mark her transition from primary school to secondary school. But Kunle, who has remained in Nigeria, is refused a visa so he cannot visit. In the end, Abbi sends him the memory box she made at school. Following the adventures of Abbi and her circle of friends, we experience the obstacles facing migrants wanting to be reunited in Ireland with their family members who are still living abroad.

Please sample the animated trailers, the teaching packs, and observe the collaborative production process behind the making of this animation series in ‘Team Building: The Making of Team Spirit'.

The 'Memory Box' has been screened in a number of national and international film festivals, winning the award for Best Irish Short in the audience selection of ‘The Stranger than Fiction’ documentary film festival (Dublin, 2007). In addition, the accompanying Teaching Resource Pack takes the film beyond conventional exhibition centres and into classrooms and teacher training colleges across Ireland.

Abbi’s Circle is part- funded by the Irish Film Board.

Click 'More Info' for further details on this project.

Irish writer and director Gerard Stembridge launched FOMACS on March 7, 2007. This video documents the launch and the accompanying exhibition of Glenn Jordan’s ‘Somali Elders: Portraits from Wales’. The Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa, Priscilla Jana, and Frank Sharry, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, Washington, DC, also spoke. The launch was marked by the publication of a catalogue, ‘Close Encounters’, which explored issues raised by the forthcoming Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill through interviews with migrants.

Broadcast on RTÉ as ‘one-minute wonders’ during the week of 7-14 April 2008, The Richness of Change was initially conceived as a ‘vox pop’ but grew into a series of short documentary vignettes, highlighting the diversity of origin and of profession, amongst Ireland’s immigrant population.

The Richness of Change, commissioned for a conference on the same theme by the Immigrant Council of Ireland and directed by Colin Murphy, works with the theme of ‘diversity’, with a focus on individuals contributing across a variety of sectors and to broad swathes of economic life and culture. Cutting across class, gender, race and ethnicity, the films offer brief snapshots of everyday life, illustrating the contributions that economic migrants are making.

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