Film Description:
"When Umi and Dwipa left Indonesia to work in an Ontario greenhouse as part of Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program, they hoped the jobs would provide the opportunity and income for a better life. They didn't expect that fixers and false promises would lead to deception and exploitation. Sadly, their story is not uncommon. What makes them unique is their courageous choice to speak up and fight back. Their faith in justice and their drive to break free from illegal debt-bondage exposes a dysfunctional system where unscrupulous brokers operate with impunity. While Dwipa risks losing her job, she finds love with a female co-worker, Rahmi, and they make plans to marry—an act not possible in their shared homeland. Min Sook Lee continues to speak truth to power with her commitment to providing a voice to the silenced, fulfilling documentary's capacity as a powerful tool for social change."
-- Alexander Rogalski
(source)
Film Description:
"A powerful feature documentary by multiple award-winning director Min Sook Lee (El Contrato, Hogtown, Tiger Spirit) and Emmy award-winning producer Lisa Valencia-Svensson (Herman's House), tells the undertold story of migrant agricultural workers struggling against Canada's Temporary Foreign Worker Program (TFWP) that treats foreign workers as modern-day indentured labourers. Under the rules of Canada's migrant labour program, low wage migrants are tied to one employer. Local activist Cathy sets up secretive meetings with Evelyn, a member of Justice for Migrant Workers. They are the lifeline for a group of Indonesian migrant agricultural workers who find themselves trapped in a web of lies and coerced by threats of deportation from agents and greenhouse owners. The workers, most of whom are women, have been recruited to work in Canada packing vegetables inside greenhouse operations, by agents who illegally charge upwards to seven thousand dollars in agency fees. Unable to afford the levy, migrants use their Canadian wages to pay back their debt to the agents. The workers' dreams are pinned to the hope that their two-year contracts will be renewed for another two years. Only 'good behavior' will secure a contract renewal. Speaking out is the last thing they can afford to do. But by the time we meet the group, comprised mostly of women, speaking out and resisting is the only thing left to do. [..]"
-- Tiger Spirit Productions
(source)
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