Suspended Lives is a documentary produced by the Jesuit Refugee Service Malta (JRS), highlighting in an up close and personal way the plight of seven asylum seekers in Malta.

The idea for the documentary was born in 2008. At the time, JRS Malta was working on a JRS Europe project entitled ‘Advocacy Network on Destitute Forced Migrants’ (Andes), a project with the ultimate aim of obtaining policy change at national and European levels to improve access to accommodation, employment, education and healthcare for destitute forced migrants.

“We were seeing a situation where people had managed to escape persecution and violent conflict in their countries and make it safely to Europe,” explains Roberta Buhagiar, executive producer of the documentary. “But they were still facing extreme hardships.

“We thought that the general public would feel differently about refugees and asylum seekers if they could hear the same stories we at JRS hear on a day-to-day basis”.

“Our aim was to give a voice to the refugees and help them tell their stories in their own words,” continues Andrew Galea Debono, who wrote, edited and directed the documentary.

“What we needed was something that gave the forced migrants their own voice, something that is not clouded by complex policy talk and legal jargon. So we decided to try it out”.

And so Galea Debono set out to work. Initially the production team did not think they would manage to produce something that would do justice to the refugee experience they wanted to explore.

Yet, “as we started filming, the testimonies of the people were so honest and down-to-earth that I really started to believe in the project and what we were putting together,” Galea Debono recalls.

He goes on to say that when dealing with personal stories of this nature, it is very important to be ethical in the approach.

On the one hand you want to tell people’s stories while respecting their privacy; on the other you want to keep in mind the consequences this sort of media exposure may have, not only on the protagonists themselves, but also on their families back in their countries of origin.

Galea Debono also points out that no Eritreans were chosen to participate in the project as their families back home may be at a higher risk of suffering repercussions, highlighting the real and present dangers these migrants have and can still face.

The protagonists of Suspended Lives are Mariam and her son Samuel from North Africa; Abdulkadir, Said and Abdugadir from Somalia; Ali from Darfur, Sudan and Lucy, Prosper and their children from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

“Initially we were looking for people who had experienced destitution or were at risk of destitution,” says Dr Buhagiar on the choice of candidates.

“We were intending the documentary to be an account of their hardships and their feelings because of their situation in Malta.

“As the interviews progressed and as they started to tell us their history, we realised that it would be a pity to just restrict the narrative to their experiences here. They touched upon so many different issues and problems that we simply couldn’t leave parts out.

“So we decided to widen the scope of the documentar and make it about their whole journey.”

To this end, Galea Debono is grateful to the many people whose contribution to the finished product was invaluable; listing Dan Cassar on graphics, Steve Theuma on sound, Australian composer David Lazar who created the music, journalist Fabrizio Gatti and photographer Olmo Calvo Rodriguez, who allowed the use of their photographs; director Tony Parnis, who offered technical support and equipment, and the Armed Forces, PBS and the International Committee for the Red Cross, who provided footage which, says Galea Debono, “really gave life to the stories being told”.

The final product is a straightforward and simple documentation of ordinary people who have faced hardships most of us cannot begin to imagine.

Yet it is in Suspended Lives’ simplicity that its power lies. It is neither political nor controversial. It is unaffected and sincere, the protagonists telling their stories straight to the camera, presenting the audience with the rare opportunity of listening to these extraordinary experiences first-hand.

“We are getting very positive feedback,” says Dr Buhagiar. “People tell us they had no idea what a refugee actually faced. In the long run this is our aim: to encourage a shift in mentality, to understand where forced migrants are coming from, to appreciate the hardships they face and to acknowledge their courage and perseverance”.

A series of free screenings of Suspended Lives is being held at the University Chaplaincy, Msida, and at St James Cavalier in Valletta. For more information visit www.suspendedlives.org or www.jrsmalta.org.