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Everybody's Children
Description
They arrive under age and alone, often traumatized and seeking asylum in a
country completely alien to their own. In some provinces, specifically
Ontario, these unaccompanied refugee minors have surprisingly no government
system in place for their care after arriving. This documentary is a cinematic
portrait of a year in the life of two such teenagers, Joyce and Sallieu. They
seem like your typical teenagers, except that reserved Sallieu, 16, witnessed
the murder of his mother as a young boy in war-torn Sierra Leone and vibrant
Joyce, 17, left the Democratic Republic of Congo to avoid being forced into
prostitution by her family. Both are courageously making new lives for
themselves in Toronto. They speak equally frankly about losing loved ones and
what they want to buy at the mall. As they bear the pressures of being a
'normal' teenager while undergoing the refugee application process - it is the
guidance and support from a handful of people - that make a real difference in
the day to day lives of these children. Children, director Monika Delmos
eloquently illustrates, who ultimately belong to all of us.
Everybody's Children was produced as part of
the Reel Diversity Competition for emerging filmmakers of colour. Reel
Diversity is a National Film Board of Canada initiative in partnership with
CBC Newsworld.
2008, 51 min 27 s
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