The Bridge explores the labor conditions of being an interpreter while also being a refugee under the governance of humanitarian aid. Shot in Kakuma Refugee Camp, the film is based on research conducted by an anthropologist and group of refugee interpreters, who became the filmmakers for this film. The fictional frame of the film enables a representation of the real without threat to refugee security. Centering on the everyday episodes in the lives of two refugee characters, who work as interpreters in a camp for a fictional humanitarian agency, The Bridge depicts the multilingual nature of the camp and focuses on challenges specific to interpreters in the field (lack of trainings, rejection by other refugee clients due to their ethnicity, the experience of nightmares and other consequences of the trauma associated with interpreting difficult cases etc.). It also addresses topics that affect refugee workers more generally: the dual-status of being both “refugee” and “worker”, the problems with the structure of work under which refugees are employed, and obstacles to organizing to produce change. Most poignantly, the film depicts a lack of respect for interpreting work and its hidden centrality to the operations of humanitarian organizations in refugee camps.
What we want to see change:
Advance interpreters training.
Currently there are a few training programs, but not for the majority of interpreters. Humanitarian organizations don’t like to hire trained interpreters. Professionalization of the field leads to better respect as well as provides opportunities to advance.
Psycho-social support and better working conditions.
Interpreters currently have:
- Lack of respect at work.
- Inadequate payment for work.
- No sick leave or annual leave for interpreters.
- Interpreters lack offices: they have to sit under the trees.
- Interpreters don’t receive lunch and have to drink the water from the tap.
- Interpreters lack psychological or support for stress.
For more information or interest in our film contact:
Photo Film 4 Change info@photofilm4change.org or Laura Kunreuther kunreuth@bard.edu