Citizen or Stranger?

Countries with a multicultural approach, like Canada, the US and Great Britain, encourage immigrants to keep their customs and culture. Others, like France and Denmark, urge immigrants to integrate and adopt Western values.

We look at the story of one immigrant family that was separated due to a civil war. They tell about their lives in their adopted country, and about their hopes for the future. 

In the world today, there at least 10 million people on the move, looking for safety, comfort and a better life. But they are not always welcomed when they arrive in a new land, and the arguments over how to integrate these newcomers are emotional and sometimes explosive.

But what about the people who are at the centre of this debate? What do they think of their new countries, and how have they been received?

In this film, we meet an extended family of immigrants who now live in six different countries.

Some of them are distant cousins, some, are close relatives.

They all come from the same part of the world: the Horn of Africa – Somaliland, a place that has been torn apart by civil war for the last 30 years.

This is their story in their words. 

Immigration is a highly emotional issue in today’s world, and opinions on the subject are often sharply divided.

In some Western countries, harsher rules have made it more difficult for immigrants, and diversity is sometimes seen in a negative light.

Meanwhile, in other countries like the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States – which allow or even encourage immigrants to keep their culture – that idea is frequently coming under attack.

In Holland, France and Denmark, we watched as one extended family deals with the rising anti-immigrant tide in continental Europe.

In this episode we see whether members of this family feel more integrated living in three multicultural societies.

This film was directed by Jon Kalina – Written by Jon Kalina, Josh Freed, Stephanie Binet.