Sorius Samura has directed a new documentary for channel four called Living With Illegals. It documents his experience living among illegal immigrants from Africa as they cross from Morocco into Europe for month, under dangerous and gruelling circumstance, for a chance at life in the West. By documenting this for a reality tv audience, he attempts to displace the vision of the voyeur by placating his own self - i.e. the viewer - into the lives of those he chooses to document - ironically those without any documents.

Najla Said, daughter of the late Edward Said, is on the last stretch of her 13-week off-Broadway, one-woman show “Palestine”. First - the name, second - an unrecognized nation, and third - the “one-woman” performance surely add a lot of baggage to a single story.

On December 27th, 2008 Israel commenced a brutal attack on the people of Gaza. One year on, the power of the people to live and their struggle for freedom continues. These videos portray a sense of that vitality.

This one comes via MTV Iggy. Hollywood with an international tilt usually comes with a butchered foreign accent, Chinese takeout and a hand full of ignorant claims about countries they can’t even pronounce correctly. The Whilred Interactive team put together an amusing project called “Let Hollywood Teach You Geography” poking fun at Hollywood’s ignorant social and cultural geography through mashing up over 40 clips from sunny Hollywood productions that mention countries the producers probably couldn’t even place on a map.

Diaspora Youth Speak (DYS) is a project based in Toronto for youth who identify as part of a Diasporic community. DYS uses multi-media arts to explore themes of displacement and mobility to reflect on personal stories and the roles that we play in local and global contexts as Diasporic peoples– fostering leadership & participation; strengthening the voice of Diasporic youth.
Find out more…watch the video…

Yet another creative project coming out of the experimental classes of Beirut. Yallah Undergound, a documentary that captures the underground music scene in the Middle East, drawing parallels between musicians and styles in urban centres like Amman, Cairo and Beirut of course. This trailer shows the interviews and soundbytes from Rayess Bek, I-Voice, Scrambled Eggs, and The New Government and plays like a visual mixtape.

Slackistan is an Independent fictionalized story of the apathetic, beautiful, young and privileged of Islamabad, Pakistan. The same Islamabad known to be a few short kilometres from the dangerous “Taliban territory” and vulnerable to unexpected carbombs. The plight of the young elite traversing from one social engagement to another while discussing their hair and what weekend party to go to sounds like any teen drama on American networks. So what exactly could be so interesting or “counter-culture” about the trial and tribulations of Pakistan’s privileged set?

Toronto-based MC and Poet Boonaa Mohammed never shies away from sharp words that uncover the harsh realities of immigrant life in Canada and countries of the West. The title of his latest spoken-word video, Green Card - commissioned for the Mayworks Festival of Canada - tells a powerful tale of the unjust and silent truths of immigrant hardships in countries where getting papers is like “winning the lottery”. Watch the video for a little slice of this narrator’s pointed perspective.

‘Fulton Street’ is a documentary taking place in Bed-Stuy, Fort Greene, and Clinton Hill. The project is titled for the Fulton mainway that bisects these neighborhoods in Central Brooklyn, currently in the throes of gentrification. To personify this phenomenon, I am approaching subjects who have lived and worked in Central Brooklyn their entire lives. The project connects ongoing gentrification to the quality of life for residents and business owners in a modern world community of African, Caribbean, Arab, Latino, Southern, and Asian people of color. The main subjects are predominantly African American, ranging from 18 to 80 years old.

Current TV has produced a documentary on Pakistani immigrants in Barcelona. Spain has one of the highest numbers of Pakistani migrants in Europe, second to the UK. Current TV’s documentary shows some of the challenges …