The Malian city of Gao in western Africa has for decades been a peaceful haven for hopeful migrants.
On the edge of the Sahel desert lies the House of Migrants, a temporary home for thousands of people every year. The hopeful ones are on their  way to Europe alongside those whose luck ran out and who are now on their way back to their hometowns and families across Burkina Faso, Togo, Benin and beyond.
Documentarian Samassékou listens to two young girls and a middle-aged woman lying in a small room and exchanging dreams and stories. Elsewhere in the house, young men are watching wrestling on TV. Samassékou’s attentive camera frames the faces, the voices and their stories in a uniquely beautiful and humane film no longer solely about having a home. The atmosphere in the house itself expresses the melancholy of exile through calm, intimate and vulnerable images. All around the city, new and old wars are taking place in the endless desert.

SCREENING WITH IN-TENTS
Stephanie Nakashima and Scott Morris | 2021 | Canada | 11 min | English
In this brand new diaristic documentary we follow individuals who are experiencing homelessness in
Hamilton, Ontario and learn their experiences with systemic barriers to housing and health care in the
midst of a global pandemic.

Keywords: Freedom | Im/migration | Refugees | Trauma

In 1982, 1.5 million Afghan refugees fled the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan. Leaving behind the war of their home, starting their new lives in Iran, The Silhouettes witnesses a family attempting to make sense of their new reality, which presents its own unique sets of challenges. Touching on the effects of war, trauma, displacement and isolation, we go on a journey with Taghi, one of the younger members of the family. Caught between the confining reality of his people’s place in Iranian society and his desire to return to his continually war-ravaged home in Afghanistan, Taghi begins to explore his future, navigating the familial responsibilities in this increasingly precarious situation. Trapped between his suffocating existence in Iran that is rife with discrimination and stigma, while having to face returning to his homeland, still in the midst of war. What future awaits him in each land?

Screening with

Stray Dogs Come Out at Night 
Hamza Bangash | 2019 | Pakistan | Punjabi with English subtitles | 11 minutes

Iqbal, a migrant sex worker, cannot come to terms with his illness.  Desperate for respite, he convinces his uncle to take a day trip to the beach. The Arabian Sea beckons.

Living through waves of political reform spurred by transnational interference undoubtedly challenges one’s sense of identity. The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 uprooted millions of Afghans who sought refuge elsewhere, including the family featured in The Silhouettes. How might this inherited cultural and geographical displacement be experienced by younger generations of Afghans in Iran or the Afghan diaspora? Is it possible to seek some semblance of resolution by returning to one’s homeland? These issues will be explored in the post-screening Q&A with director Afsaneh Salari. Moderated by Toronto-based filmmaker and programmer Aisha Jamal.