You Never Know One Day You Too Might Become A Refugee

You Never Know One Day You Too Might Become A Refugee / 2023 / single-channel film / 73 minutes / 5.1 Sound/ 2.35:1

Set in 2049, the film portrays a family's displacement and subsequent migration from the fictional Island of Grain, located off the coast of England, to a refugee detention centre. The story of the family's displacement and migration, which is seen as flashbacks, is told by Kaara - the head of the household - to an official throughout a resettlement interview, which will determine whether the family will be accepted into a progressive climate displacement resettlement scheme in an unknown country in the Global South.

The film has been supported by the Coalition For Art and Sustainable Development via the 2019 COAL Prize and developed in partnership with the Platform on Disaster Displacement and Displacement Uncertain Journeys. The film was written in collaboration with a diverse range of human mobility experts, human rights lawyers as well as members of communities that are already affected by displacement. The film also draws upon the filmmaker's previous documentary work and personal migration experiences as a Polish-British artist collaboration and couple.

Conceptually the film explores the humanitarian, ethical, legal, and political issues surrounding climate change-induced migration and displacement, precisely the problem that there is currently no legal definition, and therefore little protection, for those displaced by climate change. But perhaps more importantly, the film explorers the lived experience of displacement, what leads people to be replaced by climate change, the complexity of why people cross borders to seek refuge, the choices they make on the way, the structural and institutional violence of existing asylum processes and the psychology of families and individuals who are impacted by climate change, displacement, and migration policies.