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A documentary chronicling a Glasgow community’s resistance to a Home Office immigration raid has been honored at the Sundance Film Festival.
“Everyone to Kenmure Street” captures the events of May 13, 2021, when hundreds of Pollokshields residents mobilized to prevent the detention and deportation of two neighbors during an early morning raid.
The men were eventually released from a van after demonstrators surrounded the vehicle for several hours, with one individual even crawling underneath to impede its movement.
The film debuted earlier this month as part of Sundance’s World Cinema Documentary Competition, being screened on the festival’s opening day.
It has now received the competition’s Special Jury Award, an accolade recognizing films that exhibit exceptional courage and impact in their documentation of civil resistance movements worldwide.
Directed by Felipe Bustos Sierra, a Chilean-Belgian filmmaker based in Scotland, the documentary blends crowd-sourced footage from the day of the event with archival material and meticulously designed scenes.
These scenes feature actors delivering verbatim testimonies from contributors who preferred to remain anonymous.
Bustos Sierra previously directed “Nae Pasaran,” a documentary about the boycott by East Kilbride Rolls Royce factory workers that contributed to the end of General Pinochet’s regime in 1970s Chile.
He described “Everyone to Kenmure Street” as a “snapshot of a day, of a neighborhood, and of gestures repeated through time, for the right to have a voice and to live in peace.”
“Glasgow’s long history of civil disobedience and meaningful change has been a barometer throughout the making of this film,” he stated.
At the time of the raid, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon condemned the Home Office’s actions as “unacceptable,” particularly given that they occurred in a Muslim community celebrating Eid.
“Everyone to Kenmure Street” is scheduled to have its UK premiere as the Opening Gala of the Glasgow Film Festival on February 25.
Following the premiere, the film will be released in select UK and Irish cinemas starting March 13.
Two-time Oscar winner Emma Thompson, who served as the film’s executive producer, has previously lauded it as “beautiful and powerful.”
Producer Ciara Barry, of Glasgow-based production company barry crerar, commented: “This is such an amazing honour. We are so proud of the film, all its collaborators and its message of peaceful protest and our collective power to be the change that we want to see in the world.”
“Thanks to everyone who supported, believed in and funded the film.”
The Canadian comedic actress died in Los Angeles on Friday at the age of 71 following a brief illness.
Seven patient deaths at Queen Elizabeth University Hospital site are being investigated by Scotland’s prosecution and death investigation service.
The announcement comes just a year after it secured £3.4m in funding from arts body Creative Scotland.
In some of the cases Scotland’s prosecution service is considering whether to bring corporate homicide charges.
Filmed over 18 days in Wales, the film’s director walked the Welsh Coast Path to find the perfect beach.
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