Apo W. Bazidi is a San Francisco based film-maker whose new short film HOW FAR IS HOME tells of an example of a ‘Newcomer School’ – where new immigrant children are sent to be educated and to gain confidence adapting to a new country.
Film And TV Now recently spoke to the director about the short film and subject matter.
FILM AND TV NOW: We see a theatre piece from the Global Teen Performance Project at one point in the film. Tell us more about this initiative.
APO W. BAZIDI: All newcomers come from different backgrounds, circumstances and they all have their own unique stories.
The Global Teen Project was a collaboration between Cleveland Public Theatre and Thomas Jefferson Newcomers Academy to have these students share their stories on the stage.
It was a great way of connecting with locals because through art, people can understand one another better.
FTVN: We are informed that the Trump Administration is only accepting 18,000 immigrants, the lowest for 40 years, in 2020. How will this affect the efforts and work of a school like Thomas Jefferson, which effectively relies on immigrant children to prosper and thrive?
AWB: Of course, having acceptance numbers to go so low will affect Newcomers’ academies throughout the country in their mission. If it continues like this, many teachers and faculty members lose their jobs and schools will have their funds cut off and eventually shut down.
But the bigger concern for me is more than what will happen to those schools; It is what will happen to those children in the camps and war-torn zones waiting to be accepted into a safe home.
FTVN: An interesting irony is that America as a nation was built in part on the efforts and enterprise of immigrants from ‘The Old Country’, a term often used in films that are representative of this demographic of society, but now wants to limit it. Tell us a bit more about the students in Thomas Jefferson and what tend to be the most popular ambitions and dreams these students have?
AWB: As I called it earlier, The Mini UN without politics is what Thomas Jefferson Newcomers Academy was for me.
Over 48 languages were spoken in the school and they were all understanding each other with love and kindness. Many of those children escape from horrific events, some still can’t comprehend it because they were too little. Many that I interact with just like Ahmed and Ruba, wanted to become professionals who can give back to society.
They wanted to become teachers, doctors and engineers to become a helpful member of their society. There were a couple of alumni we got to hear from their success stories of becoming firefighters and bi-lingual translators.
FTVN: How many students did you look at before choosing Ahmed and Ruba?
AWB: There was no choosing process. It was an organic relationship where Ahmed’s enthusiasm and kindness made him become the voice of the newcomers in this school.
We have interviewed and followed a few other students for different perspectives and talents but we knew Ahmed and Ruba’s story and characters were the best to allow us to take this message across.
FTVN: Films like FOR SAMA are opening people’s eyes to the constructive reality of what some of these students have been through and the tragedy is touched on briefly, but not graphically, in HOW FAR IS HOME. How has your film helped people in understanding the situation?
AWB: Horrific and destructive backgrounds of each student’ in this school was very different than each other. Rather than staying focused on that, we wanted to show how these children start a new life in a new environment and culture.
Showing their day to day struggle and ambitions to the citizen of the country would make more sense and they can understand each other better. Every story has it’s own impact and message.
My previous work, Resistance is Life, took place on the Turkish-Syrian border showing the resistance and struggle of people of Kobane. That film had a message of how so many of these people don’t want to leave their homeland and come to the west. They stood and fought for their homeland till the last minute.
On the other hand, How Far is Home shows a glimpse of how these children are just like us and they have so much to offer us when they migrate to a new place.
FTVN: How long did it take to shoot the film?
AWB: It didn’t take us that long. We spend a couple of weeks shooting the film since we knew that we will be telling their experience in the school. Also, we wanted to get the message out in the world before the 2020 election so our lawmakers and voters can make the right decisions towards the immigration issues in the United States.
FTVN: Tell us a bit more about your production team.
AWB: We had a very small production crew since we didn’t want to interfere with the students’ education. We wanted to get the most out of it during the school year.
Our cinematographer, Angelique Quantin, was also a newcomer to the country, she came to the US from France to study English at college so it gave us a fresher perspective looking at these children in their school year. So it worked out perfectly.
We had a crew of 3 during the production. And in post-production, we had a larger team of 7 whom I worked with on my previous films.
FTVN: With the coronavirus pandemic effectively stopping film production and exhibition at present, how are you using your lockdown time as a film-maker?
AWB: Like many other professions, film-makers and artists are also affected by this pandemic. Many of our screenings have been cancelled including homecoming premiere Cleveland international Film Festival.
It’s unfortunate however I look at it very positively. I believe this is the only moment in current history that the entire universe’s heartbeat has become one. We all fear and resist against one thing. We all have common needs. It’s the time that we connected as humans than at any time before. Because in the past 10 years so many horrific events took place around the world and millions of people died in conflicts but the world never stopped.
This is the creative moment for me and I believe for many other artists to make the best out of it.
FTVN: Your journey mirrors the film, having been born in Eastern Turkey to Kurdish parents and emigrating to San Francisco. Tell us a bit more about your challenges adapting to American society.
AWB: More than challenges it’s a life-shifting experience. As a young man who grew up in a society where many basic human rights like speaking of your mother tongue were forbidden so I had to seek a new life to achieve my dreams and become the voice of those who suffered like myself.
Life could only begin in a new country. For me first, a few years was a culture shock because I came to a city where the issues that I mentioned didn’t even make sense to them and people were very free. You can only imagine what I’m talking about if you know San Francisco, the true rainbow. I had to adapt and accept the culture as it was.
I went to an ESL school like every newcomer and move onto my studies in college afterward. I had my ups and downs like everyone but I hold onto my dreams and goals to push forward. More than adapting I call it finding belonging because people are the same in every part of the world.
The only difference is the circumstances that we are born into are different and that’s what shapes us.
FTVN: We understand storytelling has been a big passion of yours since you were a child. What was the first story you ever read and what were your childhood favorites?
AWB: If I tell you that growing up in Turkey as a Kurd, I didn’t have the privilege of reading in our mother tongue, Kurdish, because it was banned and it was considered a crime to speak, read or write it.
The only readings we had was in school learning the Turkish language through children’s book. But my favourite stories were the oral stories when my grandmother told us during bedtime,. One of them called Gur, Rêvi û Şivan (Wolf, Fox and The Shepherd) a trilogy of the friendship of 3 enemies.
Those oral stories inspired me to become a storyteller.
FTVN: Has the Thomas Jefferson school and student community seen the film and what has been the overall reaction from them and others?
AWB: We were planning on premiering it during Cleveland Int’l Film Festival as homecoming – however it’s cancelled due to Covid19.
Several film festivals including Cleveland Int Film Festival have decided to hold the festival online and we will be sharing our film with as many people as possible during the online festival.
However, I would like to go back to Thomas Jefferson Newcomers Academy and do a screening in-person to reconnect with all of the students and faculty members and share that experience together.
FTVN: Finally, what are you most proud of about HOW FAR IS HOME and what impact would you like the film to have, both in an emotional connection and as a political perspective?
AWB: Proud is not the word I will use but I’m very humbled and happy that we were able to get this message out in the world during these tough times remind each other how much we are similar and how much we need each other.
The perspective that How Far is Home bringing into this society is that all newcomers have dreams and goals like us and they need respect and space. Once they have that respect and space they can make this world a better place because they have so much to offer us. They already lived a life that’s much more complex than ours and their outlook in life is more positive and hopeful than the rest of us.
The only thing stands between us is the political agenda of ruling powers and media that makes us feel like strangers. Once we see no difference in each other as humans than we can push our society and representatives to make significant changes to help and welcome newcomers.
