A POWERFUL new documentary by queer refugee filmmakers that explores what it's like to be forced to flee for your life because of who you love and how they’ve been welcomed in Scotland has premiered.
Telling the stories of more than 40 LGBT+ refugees and asylum-seekers who found safety in Glasgow for being who they are, Exiled For Existing premiered at the Glasgow Film Theatre on Wednesday, with another screening set for Friday at the Byres Community Hub.
The short seven-minute film is part of this year’s Refugee Festival Scotland and was created over three months by first-time filmmakers from LGBT Unity Glasgow.
The film is packed with first-hand testimonies from LGBT+ refugees who explore themes including what their sexuality means to them, why they had to flee to Scotland, and how they often faced an “inhumane” asylum process by the UK Home Office.
You can watch Exiled For Existing on The National here.
“We left everything behind to come here, to be able to have a life of our own and stop living a lie,” Oluwatosin Omotoyinbo told The National.
Omotoyinbo, a lesbian from Nigeria, explained in the film that she was forced to tell the story of why she had to flee her home country, a story which she was “trying to forget”, during a “traumatising” asylum process.
She said that she wanted to create the film to provide a voice to people who are often lost within the system or are isolated in their home countries, fearful of what may happen to them, because of who they are.
“It wasn't like we were courageous, but someone has to say it,” she said.
“It's like being a voice to the voiceless. We say it with courage, restraint, so that if anyone needs this, it can be held there on the internet for them to pick it up, listen to it, watch it.
“It can sound as strength for some people. Some people as a voice, some people are to be encouraged that they are not alone.
She added: “And if they also live a lot of things behind, this is a community that is willing to support them as who they are, and they know that they are not alone once again.”
Exiled For Existing also shares Emmanuel Azaino’s story, as a gay man from Nigeria, who was “outed” while he was at a football trial in Scotland.
He explained that if he were to go home, he would be killed, and that he wished he could have stayed at home.
“I miss my mum so much,” he said.
Azaino told The National that he helped make the film to help others who are in similar positions like him to feel “confident” in who they are, and that there are communities across Scotland who will welcome them with open arms.
“They can be confident like us, come out, live your truth, and let the world know who you are, because we need to have a voice,” he said.
“People need to know that we are human like them. We didn't choose who we are. We are like this.”
Azaino added: “With what we have done, I think people back home, back in Africa, it will help in educating them gradually.
“Definitely in the future, hopefully, we hope third world countries will get to the level that they will know that we are not bad people.”
Another of the documentary’s filmmakers, Zain Khan, a gay man from Pakistan, said it is important to share the experiences of LGBT+ people who face persecution in their home countries.
As for many, they face jail or even death.
Khan said: “It's about expressing ourselves to the world, to the community, to know what refugee people, especially where people are going through back home and why we are here and how we could positively contribute to the country.”
He added: “We just try to portray that at the end of the day, gay, lesbian, bi, anyone from the LGBT community, we all bleed the same blood.
“We all live in the same world, and let's promote unity and diversity as much as we can.”
Lucinda Broadbent, from Media Co-op, who helped the filmmakers create the documentary, said the stories of LGBT+ refugees and asylum seekers have never been told before.
“When I first started hearing these testimonies, I was so moved that we started this project to create this film so more people would find out the truth and welcome queer refugees and asylum seekers more warmly,” she said.
Funded by the National Lottery Community Fund Scotland, the filmmakers met most Thursdays and worked on the documentary while learning invaluable skills at GMAC Glasgow.
One of the main issues the filmmakers wanted to address was the asylum process, which they said often left refugees feeling traumatised as it lacks empathy and compassion.
Omotoyinbo said: “You’re already mentally disturbed, to find the country where you came from, that you’re not accepted, you've experienced persecution, and after coming here, and you go through the same thing you went through back home, we don't expect to be accepted like that.”
She added: “They make you relive what you're trying to forget. You try to bury your body. You have to bring it out for them to understand the story.
“It's not like we are blaming them. Of course, they want to know. But we're speaking from a place where you're not mentally stable to want to talk about whatever you’ve gone through.
“You're already traumatised, but going through it again, reopening a fresh wound. It's a lot. It's overwhelming, and they don't seem to understand.”
Khan explains that the process by the Home Office makes refugees retell their stories “again and again,” and for many, they are trying to move on with their lives.
He said: “It’s a very overwhelming experience. You’ve left everything behind. We're all alone over here, and yet we're being asked, again and again, the same stuff which we are trying to bury.
“The Home Office should be a bit more lenient. If I'm gay, I'm gay, and my country does not accept gay people, and I feel that that should be enough.”
Azaino added that he believes the Home Office should look to change how it asks people seeking asylum to prove their sexuality.
“It makes us feel abnormal. We are normal human beings.
“You don't ask a person in the street to prove their sexuality, why are you asking me, as a gay [person], to prove my sexuality? It doesn't sound well.”
Exiled For Existing will be shown for free at the Byres Hub on Friday, June 19, at 4pm and you can find more details here.
