GET 26% OFF YOUR FIRST 6 MONTHS!

Limited time - use promo code: SUM26 at checkout

Live stream preview

Watch this video and more on OVID.tv

Watch this video and more on OVID.tv

Start your free trial

Already subscribed? Sign in

This Is Home

UR rating icon
Democracy and Its Discontents • 1h 31m

Directed by Alexandra Shiva • Documentary • 2018 • 91 minutes

From acclaimed filmmaker Alexandra Shiva comes the urgent and beautiful story of a community of Syrian immigrants who are resettled in Baltimore in the US. Upon their arrival, they have eight months to find jobs, learn English, and become self-sufficient, all while they are still processing the upheaval of adjusting to a new country and dealing with the aftermath of the horrors that they endured in Syria. And then right in the middle of this process, President Trump issues his travel ban on all refugees for Muslim-majority countries, and overnight their lives (and safety) become even more perilous than they could have imagined. With incredible empathy, director Shiva highlights the inherent decency of a displaced community desperate for help within a country increasingly hostile to them.

"Affecting...Addresses early relief, initial confusion, fluctuating states of peace and homesick despair, and the small joys that come with knowing one can adapt." —Los Angeles Times

Tags
american (u.s.) studies, american dream, american studies, arabic, arabs, asylum, baltimore, bombing, bullfrog films, car repair, caseworker, catering, ceramics, changing gender roles, church supper, citizenship, community, construction, cultural anthropology, cultural orientation, deportation, doc, documentary, documentary films, driving lesson, ead card, employment program, expository, family mentor, fighting, film sales corp, finding a job, fundraiser, global / international studies, global refugee crisis, groceries, grocery store, group therapy, homesick, homs, human rights, i94, immigration and refugees, international rescue committee, interpreters, irc, job placement, job preparation, jordan, learning english, mechanic, medical clinic, mid-atlantic, multicultural studies, newcomer project, ovid, permanent resident, police, prison, psychological trauma, public transportation, race and racism, refugee status, resettlement, sand tray play therapy, school, social issues, social psychology, social security card, social work, sociss, sundance, syria, syrian rap singer, syrian refugees, syrian support group, this is home, tile-setter, tiles, torture, travel ban, truck driver, u.s. foreign policy, u.s. government and politics, umbc

Up Next in Democracy and Its Discontents

  • Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism's Un...
    1:28:25
    Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism's Un...

    Bad Faith: Christian Nationalism's Un...

    Directed by Stephen Ujlaki, Christopher Jacob Jones • Documentary • With Peter Coyote • 2024 • 89 minutes

    BAD FAITH explores the dangerous rise of Christian Nationalism in the United States. Part archival chronicle, part exposé, the film reveals the secretive political machinery that has relentl...

  • The Gospel of Revolution
    1:55:34
    The Gospel of Revolution

    The Gospel of Revolution

    Directed by François-Xavier Drouet • Documentary • 2024 • 116 minutes

    The revolutionary fervor that swept through Latin America in the 20th century owes much to the participation of millions of Christians who engaged in political struggles in the name of their faith. Driven by liberation theolog...

  • Ice
    2:07:57
    Ice

    Ice

    Directed by Robert Kramer • Drama • With Robert Kramer, Leo Braudy, Tom Griffin, Paul McIsaac • 1969 • 128 minutes

    ICE is an innovative independent thriller, shot in New York City, which centers on a revolutionary group plotting to attack a fascistic political regime. Using a fictitious war with...

×