DocHouse Shorts #3: Dislocation

In Tijuana, Mexico, we find a community of US deportees displaced from their ‘American Dream’, but still intimately connected through their work as call centre operators. In the mangrove forests of Cambodia, a young woman watches as the very sand that supports her ecosystem is extracted and relocated hundreds of miles away.

These beautifully crafted short docs from around the world resonate with a sense of movement and uprooting, by choice or by force; from the past, in the present or hovering on the horizon. The programme includes My Brother’s Keeper, in which a prisoner and his guard reunite in Mauritania, 13 years after they last saw each other in Guantanamo Bay, and Darlin, which follows a Honduran family separated in Texas under the USA’s zero tolerance policies.

But, before dislocation comes location, and a sense of place, belonging and re-settling underpins all of these thought-provoking films.

Call Center Blues – Dir Geeta Gandbhir / 2020 / 25 mins
From ex-gang members to military veterans, the call centers of Tijuana are filled with English-speaking deportees who have been forced to trade the American Dream for a new life wedged between home and displacement.

Thanks to Topic, a new streaming service curated for a curious and engaged audience seeking indie and international gems, critically acclaimed series, award-winning documentaries, and exclusive originals.

Lost World – Dir Kalyanee Mam / 2018 / 16 mins
As Singapore dredges sand out from beneath Cambodia’s mangrove forests, an ecosystem, a communal way of life, and one woman’s relationship to her beloved home are faced with the threat of erasure.

Thanks to Emergence Magazine, an online publication with an annual print edition, publishing essays, op-eds, photo essays, films, multimedia, and audio stories.

Darlin – Dir Isabel Castro / 2019 / 15 mins
A Honduran family in Houston, Texas, struggles to reunite after their separation at the border, under the USA’s zero tolerance policy.

Thanks to Op-Docs, a forum for short, opinionated documentaries, produced by independent filmmakers, covering current affairs, contemporary life and historical subjects.

My Brother’s Keeper – Dir  Laurence Topham / 2021 / 21 mins
Former Guantánamo detainee, Mohamedou Ould Salahi, and his guard, Steve Wood, reunite in Mauritania 13 years after last seeing each other, rekindling an unlikely relationship that profoundly changed their lives.

Thanks to Guardian Documentaries, working with independent filmmakers to tell powerful stories of people from around the world.

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