“Deteined”. Screening of the film and discussion
Thursday, February 23
This documentary film by Shaon Chakraborty and Anna Persson (Råfilm) is an absorbing observation from within a Swedish immigration detention centre for rejected asylum seekers. The film follows detainees and staff over the course of a summer. A mother separated from her children faces deportation, a young man waits for his life to begin, and staff members struggle with the impersonal bureaucracy required of their job.
“Detained” depicts the silent psychological horror faced by those held in modern detention centres and questions this crucial, global phenomenon.
Sweden is one of the major asylum recipient countries in the world. In 2014, the Swedish Migration Agency (SMA) received 81,301 asylum applications. Among the applications where a decision was made, 17.5% were rejected. According to the Dublin III Regulation, an asylum seeker can lodge his/her application in only one EU member state, and all decisions regarding the applicant’s asylum will be taken by that EU member state, the Dublin member state. Applicants found living or applying for asylum in another EU member state will be returned to the responsible Dublin member state. In 2014, a total of 3201 immigrants were detained in Sweden, of which 10% were females. Sweden has 255 detention places spread across five detention centres managed by the SMA.
“Råfilm” is a swedish collective of filmmakers in Malmö and Stockholm that connect film and activism. Through collaboration they facilitate the production of documentaries, animations and fiction films that address social issues and have norm-critical approach. They also organize campaigns and work with educational projects.
Susanne Ovelius is an activist and a freelancing cultural developer, who recently joined Råfilm. She is also studying self-oirganization in the art context in general and in Ukraine specifically.
Admission is free.
Organized by Visual Culture Research Center
Supported by: ERSTE Stiftung and Charles Stewart Mott Foundation
