2024 FESTIVALApr 10-20, 2024Lansing, MI

This is Home

North American Premiere / Director in attendance

*PREVIEW NIGHT FEATURE // MIDWEST PREMIERE* This screening is generously sponsored by 7C Lingo.

North American Premiere / Director in attendance
  • This is Home
  • This is Home
  • This is Home
  • Changyou's Journey
    Changyou’s Journey

This is Home

Only twenty-one thousand Syrian refugees out of five million have been accepted into the United States since 2011. THIS IS HOME follows four families sent to resettle in Baltimore in 2016. They have just eight months to find jobs, learn English, and become self-sufficient. The clock starts right when they land. Despite good intentions, a vast cultural divide prevents the new arrivals and the Americans trying to help them from truly understanding each other. For Syrians like Khaldoun, who was tortured and left physically disabled, and children like Mohammad, who suffers from PTSD, their needs extend far beyond lessons in proper job attire.

Halfway through the process, President Trump issues a travel ban on all refugees from Muslim-majority countries, and suddenly their lives, and the safety of loved ones still trapped in Syria, become all the more perilous. With much-needed empathy, filmmaker Alexandra Shiva reveals the inherent decency of a displaced community desperate for help within a country increasingly hostile to principles of inclusion and opportunity.

Check out a review of THIS IS HOME at the Sundance Film Festival from Variety here.

  • DIRECTOR
    Alexandra Shiva
  • YEAR
    2018
  • RUNTIME
    91 Minutes
Pre-Feature Short: A Michigan Frontrunner

Changyou’s Journey

A cancer-stricken father reminisces his life through the animation film by his young son.

  • DIRECTOR
    Perry Chen
  • YEAR
    2018
  • RUNTIME
    6 Minutes
  • LANGUAGE
    English
  • COUNTRY
    United States
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