When Strangers Re-Unite

199952 minFilm: Documentary

Direction: Marie BotiFlorchita Bautista

Production: Malcolm GuyMichelle SmithGermaine Ying Gee WongSally Bochner

Script: Marie BotiFlorchita Bautista

Co-produced by Productions Multi-Monde Inc. and the NFB.

Every year thousands of women enter Canada as domestic servants, the majority of them from the Philippines. Leaving their own children and families behind, they can spend many isolated years cooking, cleaning and caring for others. Sending much of their wages back home, they dream of the day their families can join them. When Strangers Re-Unite looks at what happens after years of separation and sacrifice. Virtual strangers at the airport, family members face a confusing journey of rebuilding relationships while adapting to an often unwelcoming environment. Within the Filipino community in Canada, several groups and organizations have been actively working for the rights and welfare of migrant workers. It is largely thanks to them that most of these families are able to overcome what can seem like insurmountable obstacles. Filmed in Toronto, Montreal and the Philippines, this candid and touching portrait reveals three families in the midst of healing, coping with the strangers they love.

Subject categories


  • Cultural Diversity and Multiculturalism > Asian OriginsImmigration Experience and Social AdjustmentWork
  • Families > Family PortraitsImmigrant Experience

Credits


director
Marie Boti
Florchita Bautista
script
Marie Boti
Florchita Bautista
producer
Malcolm Guy
Michelle Smith
Germaine Ying Gee Wong
executive producer
Sally Bochner
camera
Michael Wees
Kwoi
animation camera
John Sleeman
sound
Alain Tremblay
Craig Lapp
Gerry Carillon
editing
Marlene Millar
Alfonso Peccia
sound editing
Luc Bourgeois
online editing
Jean-François Monette
sound mix
Luc Bourgeois
narrator
Florchita Bautista
music
Janet Lumb