My Small Land is a coming-of-age story that explores the tragic realities of refugees in a sensitive film about the balancing act of a young refugee who is caught between two worlds and searching for a sense of belonging.
For Sarya (17), a Kurdish refugee from Turkey who as settled in Japan, life seems to be looking up. Her grades at school are enough to pursue college, she's surrounded with good friends and her relationship with Sota is becoming special despite her conflicted feelings about her obligations to her family. However, her life is turned upside down when her family's refugee status is turned down. When her father is taken into custody for illegal employment, Sarya, whose other is dead,is forced to be responsible for her younger siblings as well as herself.
Subtitles
Watch the trailer https://youtu.be/-ZK5y4rbJEg
Director: Emma Kawawada / Cast: Lina Arashi, Takashi Fujii, Sei Hiraizumi / Country: France, Japan / Length: 1hr 54 mins / Language: Japanese, Turkish, Kurdish / / Genre: Drama / Rating: PG
“…the strength of “My Small Land” lies in the observation of our social interactions. It has a timeless and universal power that is touching and leaves one at times quite desperate.” - Asian Movie Pulse
“Ultimately, My Small Land shows there isn’t just one answer to the questions of “where are you from?” or “where do you belong?” Kawawada confronts these realities and presents them in a delicate and intimate way, inflected in a beautiful sadness that comes from uncertainty about the future.” - Cinema Escapist
“My Small Land” builds in dramatic power. It offers no easy answers, only the hard truth that, for refugees like Sarya, Japan’s much-trumpeted omotenashi (hospitality) becomes a bitter irony, with the looming specter of deportation to a “homeland” of poverty or, in the case of the stateless Kurds, possible arrest, torture and death.” – The Japan Times
Monday Cinema is presented by Trail and District Arts Council and screens at The Royal Theatre, 1597 Bay Avenue, Trail.
All films begin at 4:00 pm.
Tickets $12 at thebailey.ca or call the Box Office Monday to Friday from 12-4 pm. Only 143 tickets available for this screening.
If tickets are available, they will go on sale at the venue 30 minutes before the screening. Cash only at the door. Doors will open 30 minutes prior to show time.