Screened as part of TOAFF17
In this deliberately provocative documentary essay, a teacher in a Sicilian classroom welcomes migrants with unusual techniques: rejecting them, then embracing them. His contradictory words echo the fraught power relations between Europe and those who seek safer, more prosperous lives on her shores.
Stranger in Paradise tackles head on some of the reasons advanced by both the left and the right to justify policies that have, so far, fallen shockingly short of responding to the needs of populations threatened by conflict, famine and gross inequality. This film does not claim journalistic impartiality, nor does it articulate an impassioned cry for change. What it does offer is a powerful starting point for a much-needed conversation on how Europe can respond to a humanitarian crisis of an unprecedented scale.
