ON MIGRATION, ON THE MEDIA | In a New Documentary, Refugees Reclaim Their Narrative, from Hyperallergic

Refugees of the Moria camp in Lesvos, Greece are behind the camera in the film Nothing About Us Without Us.

One of the pressing complaints about Western journalism is that traveling reporters drop into the scene where a story is unfolding, tell only a fraction of it, and jet off to the next destination chasing another lede. Marginalized people seeking media coverage also sometimes find themselves at the mercy of journalists who lack cultural context in their reporting, resulting in clickbait headlines that reinforce problematic stereotypes.

In Nothing About Us Without Us, a 2022 documentary film produced by ReFOCUS Media Labs and commissioned by Allianz Kulturstiftung, refugees of the Moria camp in Lesvos, Greece, are behind the camera, reclaiming control of their narrative.

Source: In a New Documentary, Refugees Reclaim Their Narrative, Hyperallergic, by Rhea Nayyar, December 7, 2022; (photo by Naqib Rasoli; all courtesy of ReFOCUS Media Labs @refocusmedialabs unless otherwise noted)