Description

The image of Barcelona is characterised by a cosmopolitan touristic life, long term gentrification processes and progressive political perspectives, as for example for the welcoming of refugees and migrants. In order to find out to what extent the self-drawn image of Barcelona as a ‘Refugee City’ reaches the realities of the lives of the people affected by the European border regime, this ethnographic documentary focuses on the local political strategies which define and regulate the treatment of migrants. Further, it shows the alarming deficits and precarious living situations of those who have come in search of more humane living conditions and how, due to The Immigration Law, most of them spent years without the perspective of a right to stay or a work permit.

Due to a one-year-and-half anthropological research with a collaborative approach, this documentary gives a deep insight into the everyday life, functioning and networking of diverse migrant communities and documents their persistent fight against the prevailing racist power relations.

It consists in the presentation of the self-organized Union of Street Vendors of Barcelona, the human rights initiative ’Tanquem els CIEs’ which fights for the closure of Immigrant Detention Centres across Spain, the campaign against racial profiling ’Parad de Pararme’, the collective ’Frontera Sur’ which accompanies refugees after their arrival at Spain’s southern border and in their asylum process, and the self-organized migrant-and-refugee-protest ’Encierro Migrante’ which occupied a former Art School in Barcelona in order to reach out to the local politicians and fight for their human rights. These collectives have been involved in the research, shooting and editing-process of this ethnographic documentary film, which aims to show the social struggles in the face of institutional racism from a BPOC and migrant perspective.

Director Biography – Christin Schuchardt

Christin Schuchardt, born in Erfurt/Germany in 1990, studied Anthropology and Gender Studies at the university of Göttingen. During her master in Visual Anthropology she produced her first short film called “Iduna-Komplex” (2016) and found her passion for filmmaking and nonfiction storytelling. In the past two and a half years she focussed on producing her first mid-length documentary “Barcelona – A Welcoming City” (2021), an independent and participatory ethnographic film about the persistent resistance of five BPOC and migrant collectives in the face of institutional racism. She is currently living in Barcelona, working as a freelance translator and dedicating every free minute to filmmaking and climbing.

Credits

Christin Schuchardt
Director

Christin Schuchardt, Andrés Díaz
Writer

Christin Schuchardt
Producer

Nebon Babou Bassono
Key Cast

Lamine Bathily
Key Cast

Kaire Ba Dejuan
Key Cast

Mercè Duch
Key Cast

Victoria Canalla
Key Cast

21 Aerials
Camera

Najib Abidi
Camera

Panayiotis Achniotis
Camera

Marc Almodóvar
Camera

Mohammad Alsharqawi
Camera

Raquel Rei Branco
Camera

Alejandra Caballero
Camera

Sònia Calvó Carrió
Camera

Andrea Moreno Ciriza
Camera

Oriol Daviu
Camera

Andrés Diaz
Camera

Andrés Ávila Escobar
Camera

Pedro Mata
Camera

Carlos Martín-Peñasco
Camera

Zala Opera
Camera

Marta Saleta
Camera

Christin Schuchardt
Camera

Christin Schuchardt
Edit

Andrés Díaz
Edit

Tommy Leb
Mixing and Mastering

Andrés Díaz
Colour Grading

Hannes Wittmer
Music

Clara Jochum
Music

Andreu Comas
Translation to English

Jenny Dinwoodie
Translation to English

Sheila González
Translation to English

Sofía Puertas Martin
Translation to English

Christin Schuchardt
Translation to English

Jenn Stoll
Translation to English

Marta Sveinbjörnsdóttir
Translation to English

Clara Rodriguez Arasans
Translation to German

Virginia López Bernabé
Translation to German

Vera Burkhardt
Translation to German

Sofía Puertas Martin
Translation to German

Juan Escribano Navarro
Translation to German

Llanquiray Painemal Morales
Translation to German

Christin Schuchardt
Translation to German

Assma Assoumani
Translation to French

Garazi Ateka
Translation to French

Nebon Babou Bassou
Translation to French
Lea ColsónTranslation to French

Catalina LaCalva Domínguez Castelló
Translation to French

Lucile Doussin (Elvis)
Translation to French

Remi Gouget
Translation to French

Noel Mata Casanova
Translation to Catalàn

Mercè Duch
Translation to Catalàn

Anna Galí
Translation to Catalàn

Laura OC
Translation to Catalàn

Xavier Muñoz Lannes
Translation to Catalàn

Christin Schuchardt
Translation to Catalàn

Ruth Gozalbo
Translation to Catalàn

Garazi Ateka
Subtitles

Virigna López Bernabé
Subtitles

Guerilla Media Collective
Subtitles

Remi Gouget
Subtitles

Christin Schuchardt
Subtitles

Tommy LebSound
Editing

Christin Schuchardt
Sound Editing

Specifications

Project Type: Documentary, Feature, Student, Television, Web / New Media, Other
Runtime: 55 minutes 30 seconds
Completion Date: March 1, 2021
Country of Origin: Germany
Country of Filming: Spain
Language: English, French, German, Spanish
Shooting Format: Digital
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Film Color: Color
First-time Filmmaker: Yes
Student Project: Yes – Georg-August-University Göttingen