Living with Illegals (50mins, Director: Sorious Samura)

Film screening & Discussion at the New Art Exchange, Nottingham in collaboration with Long Journey Home. Thursday 5th August, 7pm.

Venue: New Art Exchange, 39-41 Gregory Boulevard, Hyson Green, Nottingham, NG7 6BE

Tickets: £3/2 (concessions) – available at the Box Office on 0115 924 8630.

Sorious Samura becomes an illegal immigrant. He travels from Morocco into Europe, finally crossing the English Channel to Britain. He lives in the same conditions and experiences the same gruelling hardships as his companions. New Art Exchange in collaboration with Long Journey Home are pleased to be hosting a post screening discussion to address some of the issues within the film. Sharing the panel will be Stuart Brown (Long Journey Home) and Amdani Juma, a refugee whom left Burundi in 1991 and was evacuated from Rwanda by the UN during the 1994 genocide. After the conflict he returned to Burundi as a university graduate, but was held captive, tortured and put under surveillance. In 2003 Amdani fled to Britain and was granted 3 years Humanitarian Protection in the UK. During his time in Nottingham Amdani became a popular and enormously well respected community worker; assisting refugees to adjust to life in Britain and was also instrumental in providing awareness of HIV/AIDs within the African / Caribbean communities. However Amdani’s Indefinite Leave to Remain, has been denied. He now faces the prospect of being deported back to Burundi at anytime.

Long Journey Home is an East Midlands-wide network that recognises the important role the arts can play in breaking down barriers, challenging stereotypes, empowering the disenfranchised and enriching the cultural wealth of society as a whole; working with artists in exile and those communities that have recently arrived in the region from all over the world. www.longjourneyhome.org.uk