event
FILM SCREENING
Thursday
03
March
Elles les invisibles FILM

Elles les (in)visibles

Maevia Griffiths, Film Director and Development Studies MA Alumni of the Graduate Institute Geneva
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Maison de la paix, Geneva

There are approximately 12,000 ‘undocumented’ migrants in Geneva, 80% of whom are women working in care economy. They clean our offices, our homes; they take care of our parents, our children. They sustain both the local and global economies. Yet they are rendered invisible, ‘invisibilised’. Who are they? What is their story? 

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Elles les (in)visibles is a documentary recounting the stories of four ‘undocumented’ women in Geneva. This film was made as part of Maevia Griffiths’ Master thesis in Development Studies at the Graduate Institute Geneva in 2021. Maevia’s work uses filmmaking as both object and method of her research, as to bridge the gaps between social science knowledge production, under-represented realities and a wider audience.

The film concentrates on the lived experiences of four migrant women working in Geneva’s care economy, two of whom have been regularised and two who remain without regular status. This movie looks at the processes of regularisation through the pilot project Operation Papyrus – between 2017 and 2018 in Geneva – which regularised nearly 3,000 people.

The audience follows their stories: leaving their homes, crossing borders, finding work as an ‘undocumented’ migrant in Geneva, situations of abuse, exploitation and violence, most importantly their strength and resistance to cope with the situation at hand.

Viewers will be able to stop and listen to people who rarely have their voices heard.

Director, Maevia Griffiths, explains: “These are the people we all rely on for our society to function, and by watching and listening we can allow recognition of their presence, their suffering and strength as well as their humanity, allowing more symmetric power relations to form, starting here in Geneva, in our own home.”

The film premiered at International Oriental Film Festival of Geneva (FIFOG) on 27th June 2021 and is currently being screened at FIFDH for the HUG and their educational program 2022. Past screenings with different venues and organizations included: the Open Air Cinema Morges, CLASH (Collectif de Lutte contre le Sexisme en milieu Hospitalier CHUV), Femmes à Bord (Association for vulnerable women, GE), Centre de la Roseraie (welcome center for migrants GE), Club Zonta Vaud. 

 

PANEL DISCUSSION

  • Maevia Griffiths, Film Director and Development Studies MA Alumni of the Graduate Institute Geneva (2021)
  • Riccardo Bocco, Professor in Anthropology and Sociology Faculty Associate, Centre on Conflict, Development and Peacebuilding
  • Dalia Zein, PhD candidate and teaching assistant at the Department of Anthropology and Sociology at the Graduate Institute Geneva 
  • The panel will be moderated by Victor Santos Rodriguez, Visiting Lecturer, International Relations/Political Science Department, and Academic Supervisor, Interdisciplinary Programs Applied Research Projects, Graduate Institute Geneva

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