Filmmaker Statement

Being an immigrant, I empathize with the Indian workers’ hopes and disappointments. I was heartbroken when I first read about what had happened to the workers. Even if this incident occurred back in 2007, the labor exploitation of these guest-worker programs sadly continues even today. I believe that any human should live with a basic unit of dignity. And when this dignity is taken away, resistance should happen. Retaliation should happen. Voices should rise. The main themes of my film are "dignity" and "justice." This builds nicely from the previous installment of Kinostreet, “Testimony of Ana,” which also deals with the themes of dignity and justice. The fiction format allowed me to maintain anonymity and tell their stories with more integrity. Instead of simply re-telling what has happened, we showed what could have happened if the workers had decided to revolt and resist with a camcorder in our fictional world. I envision this project sparking a dialogue about immigrant rights.