To celebrate International
Domestic Workers Day, Remittance, a
feature film, that's been travelling in the film festival circuit, about the struggles of a Filipino domestic worker in Singapore, will be screening next week.
Jointly, organised by aidha, AWARE Singapore, HOME: Humanitarian Organisation for Migration Economics and Singapore Committee for UN Women to celebrate #InternationalDomesticWork
Remittance
follows Marie, a woman from the Philippines, as she struggles with her daily
life as a foreign domestic worker and tries to balance living for her family
versus living for herself. The story explores the transformations Marie goes
through as a woman dealing with conflicting obligations and aspirations.
Here is our interview with Writer/Director
Patrick Daly on Remittance.
Ever since the film started screening worldwide and in the Philippines, what have been the audience reactions towards to the film?
We have had really positive audience reactions
at screenings around the world. Most of our screenings to date have been at
international film festivals in North America, Europe and Asia. In these venues,
audiences have appreciated the way the film has captured the lived reality of
migrant workers in Singapore. For people not familiar with the context of
domestic labour, the film has opened a lot of eyes about the lives of men and
women who leave their families behind and travel abroad to send money home. In
North America, some audience members related the experiences of the men and
women in the film with their own migrant experiences. So far we have not
screened the film extensively in the Philippines. However, we have screened for
a number of Filipino audiences in Singapore and the reaction has been very
positive.
Has it been screened in Singapore before? If so, what were the reactions in Singapore?
We have screened a number of times in Singapore,
mainly for organizations interested in migrant workers’ rights. We had a
wonderful screening at the National Gallery sponsored by Yale-NUS College, and
Aidha (an NGO that provides training courses for domestic workers in
Singapore), AWARE, HOME and the Singapore Committee for UN Women are sponsoring
several screenings at Shaw Lido. For these screenings, much of the audience are
domestic workers, and fortunately the film has been received very well! We have
heard from many migrant workers that they want their friends and family back
home in the Philippines, Indonesia, India, etc. to know more about their lives,
and to see how hard they work for the money they send home.
What are some of the highlights of the film viewers can look forward to?
One of the unique aspects of this film is the
way that migrant workers are portrayed as people rather than just as labour. It
is common for people to associate low-wage migrant workers with stories of
hardship and abuse. While sadly this is part of the migrant experience for
many, we wanted to focus more on them as women, and look at the challenges they
have balancing supporting their families at home, dealing with a difficult work
environment in Singapore, and trying to carve out a new life for themselves.
People familiar with Singapore, especially domestic workers, will see lots of
locations that they are familiar with, and gain some insights into how the
migrant community claims little spaces for themselves in the Singapore
landscape. Unlike other films that deal with the subject, we also spend a lot
of time bringing the audience back to the Philippines so they can see what life
is like at home, and what sorts of challenges migrant workers face when they
return home.
Some of the cast members were actual domestic workers. Is this true? Any interesting stories about their involvement in the film?
Almost all of the cast in the film are
non-trained actors. We made this creative decision because we felt it was
essential for domestic workers to play a major role in the storytelling
process. After we wrote the initial script, we spent about six months work-shopping
the script scene by scene with migrant workers to customize the story to their
real life experiences. During casting, we worked with NGOs in Singapore such as
HOME and Aidha as we wanted many of the roles to be played by actual domestic
workers. Our lead actress Angela Barotia still works in Singapore as a domestic
worker. We wanted the film to have an almost documentary feel to it, and felt
that women who have lived variations of this story would be best situated to
convey a realistic portrayal of what is like to be a migrant worker. When we
screen the film, audiences have been really inspired by the cast – and have
connected emotionally with the performances.
Perhaps the biggest challenge involving domestic workers in the film was scheduling. Many of the women only get Sundays off each week and so we had to schedule all rehearsals and most of the production over a series of Sundays when they were available. We had a number of situations where women we wanted to cast were not able to participate because their employers were not supportive of the project. During one shoot, we had to stop for about an hour because one of the women was called home on her day off because her employers could not get their child to go to sleep! For us as film-makers, having domestic workers involved in the production was a tremendous life experience. They helped make the film far richer and more textured by sharing their personal experiences and perspectives. It was also personally inspiring to see how much time and effort they put into the film, given how little free time they have.
In regards to the commodification of labour, of workers from third world countries to first world nations, what are some of the most shocking things happening currently?
Unfortunately, there is widespread exploitation
of workers from the developing world in almost all areas that import labour.
One issue that we found shocking which is not widely discussed is the extent to
which low wage migrant workers are ripped off by various middlemen in their
home countries and abroad who serve as brokers. Many of the men and women who
go abroad to work have to pay often exorbitant fees to agencies, leaving them
and their families deep in debt. It is common that workers spend much of their
first contract (often a two-year period) trying to pay back their initial debt.
This leaves many working without any compensation for years - which is
effectively a form of slavery. While far from perfect, the situation of migrant
workers in Singapore has been gradually improving. This has come about through
the efforts of foreign embassies supporting their nationals, NGOs and advocacy
groups, and Singapore government policy.
Is this the only screening planned, any other plans to organise more screenings of this film in Singapore to reach a wider audience?
Now that we have finished screening on the film
festival circuit we hope to have more screenings in Singapore, and to
eventually make the film widely available through online platforms.
Screening details:
Date: 5 July
2017
Time: 7pm
Location: Lido
350
Orchard, Shaw House, Singapore 238868
Admission: $15
for Public
Entry is FREE for Foreign Domestic Workers. Please see below to register:
Email info@aidha.org or
Whatsapp +65 9118 0854
Include your name, mobile number and work permit number
The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion.
Also stay tuned to the Event Page for more details about any updates on the upcoming activities.
Interview by Christine Seow
For the full list of July 2017's 10 films under STOP10, click here.
Also stay tuned to the Event Page for more details about any updates on the upcoming activities.
Interview by Christine Seow
For the full list of July 2017's 10 films under STOP10, click here.