BIFA longlisted documentary 'Hostile' to be shown at Northampton Filmhouse in March

The BAFTA longlisted documentary 'Hostile' will be played at a showing at Northampton Filmhouse in March, promising to paint a stark picture of Britain's immigration policies and the communities they affect.

'Hostile' is a feature-length documentary described focusing on the UK’s "complicated relationship" with its migrant communities.

Told through the stories of four participants from Black and Asian backgrounds, the film looks into the impacts of what it calls "the evolving ‘hostile environment’ - a term used by the UK government in 2012 to illustrate the atmosphere they wanted to create for migrants".

Exploring the lives of international students, the Windrush generation and ‘Highly-Skilled Migrants’ which the UK's policies affected, the documentary claims that Britain has reached a "crisis point". With Brexit, the Points Based Immigration System and the Nationality and Borders Bill taking effect, the documentary asks who could be affected next.

Sonita Gale, the documentary's director and producer, said: "'Hostile' is a film that is deeply personal to me.

"My parents migrated to the UK in the 1950s, almost a decade after their lives had changed dramatically due to the partition of India and Pakistan.

"My mother made a perilous journey, walking for 16 consecutive days, over 180 kilometres, from Lahore to the Punjab on the Indian side of the border, witnessing the loss of life and livelihoods for reasons that would never fully make sense.

"Their story of migration, and of eventually making a home in England, became the seed of an idea to make a film about the experiences of migrant communities."

Alongside the "harrowing" stories of those affected by the hostile environment are the views of academics, politicians, and NHS workers.

MPs Zarah Sultana and Stephen Timms, alongside academics Patrick Vernon, Gargi Bhattacharyya, Jeevun Sandher, Michael Bankole, Brad Evans and Maya Goodfellow, provide historical context on the Hostile Environment, as well as NHS medics like Zana Khan and Dave Carr.

The music for the film was created by the award-winning Nitin Sawhney CBE, Ayanna Witter-Johnson and spoken word from George the Poet. Nitin Sawhney is also Executive Producer on the project, and features in the film.

The director said: "When I began filming, my focus turned to the very communities I grew up with: Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Black and White working-class communities.

"The more I filmed, the more I learned about the 'Hostile Environment', a term used by the government in 2012 to illustrate an atmosphere the government wanted to create for migrants in the country, to make life here as inhospitable as possible, so they would choose to leave on their own accord – or be deported.

"Meeting my participants and filming their unraveling narrative led me on a personal journey of discovery, one which linked my family’s history to the larger story of British identity, and the extent to which migrant communities, such as the one I grew up in, were essential to the fabric of this country.

"As a filmmaker, the compelling personal nature of the story, combined with the fact that there were so many inconsistencies in our society and contradictions in our current political system, made me want to embark on my directing debut.

"I wanted to make a film that highlights the inequalities of a system that affects migrant communities. In making and completing Hostile, I want to raise awareness of the issues migrants face in our country, and what it feels like to live day-by-day in such circumstances."

The documentary was longlisted for three British Independent Film Awards (BIFA) awards for Best Documentary, Best Debut Director, and the Raindance Discovery Award.

It will be shown at the Northampton Filmhouse at 6.30pm on March 7.