“Home,” directed by acclaimed British filmmaker Daniel Mulloy and filmed in Britain and Kosovo, will premiere Sunday in London to mark World Refugee Day.
Though the recent wave of asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa trundling through Europe in search of a better life has by and large bypassed Kosovo, it was the recent exodus of Kosovo citizens which provided the inspiration for a new short film about migration.
Home, a film by acclaimed director Daniel Mulloy premieres on Sunday in London on the eve of World Refugee Day. It stars Jack O’Connell and Holliday Grainger who portray parents in a typical English nuclear family.
One day, the family wakes up to a news program about how Britain is being “flooded” with immigrants, setting them off to a far from typical voyage: a journey from a normal life in a quiet suburban town to to an all-out war zone.
In an interview, Mulloy said that he wanted to portray a surreal scenario that would illustrate the absurdity of war and of Europe’s effectively closing the door to refugees in their time of need.
“I wanted to create something that was nonsensical, that was ludicrous, because for me war is ludicrous. For me it makes sense that I’d want to bring my family to safety. But to go from total safety and comfort to a warzone, to go there for no reason – I wanted to illustrate that question: would anyone want to stay in a warzone? People are taking massive, life threatening journeys with their families because they are unable to survive where they are.”
Mulloy, who won a BAFTA award for his short film Antonio’s Breakfast, said that he was inspired to make the film after an encounter in Kosovo at the Prishtina bus station with a family returning after a failed bid to seek asylum. The family had been detained in poor conditions at a camp for migrants in Hungary, and the young child had fallen ill after sleeping on the ground and recently been operated on.
“I was always remembering that family that I met in the bus station. Despite having been through that ordeal…I doubt I would have the strength to laugh, their connection, their openness to me. To be honest I felt really bad, you have this sick feeling,” he said.
This encounter, which occurred as he was filming a promo for DokuFest 2015, which focused on the theme of migration, spurred him to visit camps for asylum seekers in Macedonia, and the idea for the film was born.
“I totally understand why this ludicrous story done with realism made a bizarre kind of sense – kind of equal to how ludicrous it is it is to be stuck in war. Like animals stuck behind a fence. It is absolutely surreal that we in Europe are allowing this to happen, that people can say “that’s policy.”
Mulloy said that his upbringing in a diverse part of London and his personal history, including a grandmother who was the only member of her family to survive the Holocaust, influenced him to advocate for refugees.
Since Mulloy’s partnership with DokuFest was part of the genesis of the movie, it only made sense that DokuFest and some of those affiliated took part in the filmmaking process and that the conflict scenes be filmed in Kosovo, in Gracanica and Janjevo. It came together when the U.N. Kosovo Team allocated some funds and got UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on board to provide some funding.
Shpat Deda, one of the film’s producers, says Home is the biggest international movie with famous Hollywood actors to be filmed in Kosovo, and that the production team came together because of their fervent belief in the importance of the theme.
“We used to be in such a situation,” said Deda. “If it wasn’t for the compassion we received, many of us wouldn’t be here. The reason most people joined the team was because people understand the cause and wanted to do something.”
In addition Deda, the film’s two executive producers, Arta Dobroshi and Eroll Bilibani are also from Kosovo. More than 30 local actors played in the film and most of the set design and art was also done in Kosovo.
Mulloy said he has been “floored” by his team.
“Kosovo has a great depth in talent, enthusiasm, and courage – the courage to do something ridiculous in trying to make something on a budget that was ridiculous. The amount of effort that was put it was phenomenal. They had done so much preparation that it was like we were one unit, I thought to myself ‘I’m working with a bunch of geniuses.’”
Deda and Mulloy said they are also grateful to the Kosovo Police and the Kosovo Security Forces for serving as extras in the film.
The launch of the film on World Refugee Day will be accompanied by a heightened reality app called Blippar, which will let users show their support for refugees by scanning their hand and sign a petition supporting asylum seekers.
The movie premieres just days before the June 23 ‘Brexit’ vote on whether or not Great Britain will remain in the European Union. In public debates about the referendum, and especially the ‘Leave’ campaign, immigration has been highly contested. Some of the rhetoric has been very vitriolic, and on Thursday Jo Cox, an MP from the Labour party, and former pro-immigration activist, was murdered.
“It is a really important time for Britain in so many ways,” says Mulloy, who wants his audience to see the film with actors who look like them, and realize that it could just as easily be them seeking refuge in another country.
“In terms of a broader audience, people really connect to Jack, to what it means to be a parent or child …it is only when we see people in need as ‘others’ that we don’t want to help, but as soon as you have the connection we all have the ability to love each other.”