Constance on the Edge
Wednesday, October 18, 2017 – 7:30pm
Australia 2016. Dir: Belinda Mason. 80 min. DCP
VANCOUVER PREMIERE! Fleeing their home in war-torn Sudan, Constance Okot and her six children endured ten years in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya before being granted humanitarian visas to Australia. Resettled in rural Wagga Wagga, Constance met director Belinda Mason. What followed was a ten-year quest for acceptance and healing documented by Mason and her all-female crew, resulting in an authentic and intimate portrait of one family’s efforts to feel at home in an unfamiliar place. Dealing with the consequences of trauma and displacement, Constance struggles to adapt and to overcome a crippling depression. While one of her children is accepted into university, another wrestles with drug addiction. Although pushed to “the edge,” Constance remains an indomitable force — a charismatic and resilient woman determined to do whatever it takes to ensure a better life for her children.
Post-screening discussion with Kirby Huminuik and Frank Cohn.
Kirby Huminuik, a Registered Clinical Counsellor, holds a Certificate in Global Mental Health from the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma and has long worked with refugees and survivors of torture and political violence.
Frank Cohn has a Master of Science in Social Work from Columbia University and is the Executive Director of the Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture (VAST), B.C.’s largest centre for refugee mental health.
Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia
Co-sponsored by the University of British Columbia and the Vancouver Immigration Partnership, City of Vancouver.
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This film screening is part of the second annual Refugee & Migration Symposium hosted by representatives of AMSSA, MOSAIC, ISSofBC, Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture (VAST), the City of Vancouver, the UBC Community Engagement Office, UBC International Student Development, The Liu Institute for Global Issues, and the UBC Graduate Student Migration Network. For more details, please visit liu.arts.ubc.ca/events