New award-winning documentary ‘Stateless’ Exposes racism and colorism in the Dominican Republic

SELINA McCALLUM

Imagine you are born in a country that decides that because of your skin color and where your parents were born, you are no longer a citizen of your country. Just like that, you do not belong anywhere, and you have no protection or identity.

In 1937, tens of thousands of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent were exterminated by the Dominican army, on the basis of anti-black racism. In 2013, the Dominican Republic’s Supreme Court stripped the citizenship of anyone with Haitian parents, taking effect from 1929, causing over 200,000 people without identity, nationality or homeland.

Director Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary, Stateless, takes us on a journey guided by a young attorney, Rosa Iris, who is committed to challenging electoral corruption and reuniting families split apart by the sudden and merciless law. On the other hand, the audience is also introduced to Gladys who is a part of a national movement group that sides with the Dominican Republic government.

Stephenson grew up in a Haitian and Latinx household and diaspora communities in North America. She heard stories about the history of her birthplace relating to race, color, class, colonialism and human rights.

“I was born in Haiti, but I’m based in Brooklyn. I’m of Haitian and Panamanian descent,” said Stephenson. “I grew up in Quebec and New York.”

 Stateless points out universal themes of access to citizenship, migration and systemic racism. The director wanted to shed some light on the situation, even though it tore her up inside as a black Latina.

“It was emotionally very draining and painful. Because of my appearance as a light skin woman, I was treated differently, and I could see the difference. In some instances, some people didn’t believe I was Haitian and so that kind of played both ways, but I think it ended up being very stressful for me at that level, of course nothing compared to what people are going through there right now,” said Stephenson.

Stateless shows that a majority of black people all around the world face hardship from people who are not black, and people who are.

“I think people of Caribbean descent will connect to this differently. They’ll recognize certain things and then take away this greater understanding, they’ll connect to Rosa more,” said Stephenson. “I think for the broader audience it will be a surprise.”

This documentary was also produced by two black women from Toronto.

Lea Marin is an award-winning Toronto-based producer with more than eighteen years of experience. Her most recent film credits include Astra Taylor’s What Is Democracy? which premiered at TIFF in 2018, and Charles Officer’s Unarmed Verses, which won the Best Canadian Feature Award at Hot Docs 2017.

Jennifer Holness is an award-winning writer and producer of scripted and factual films and television productions. She co‐wrote and produced the two‐part CBC miniseries Guns, starring Elisha Cuthbert and Colm Feore, which won five Canadian Screen Awards, including a shared Best Writing award.

“This sisterhood has been tremendous putting this together over the last five years,” said Holness.

This talented trio of black women with the support of their funders, agencies, and people, put together a raw, emotional and eye-opening story that exposes racism and colorism, that many black people can relate to no matter which part of the world they are in.

In the film, Rosa Iris decides to run for congress so that she can start to change her community for the better.

“That’s where you see the story start to unfold because how do you enact change in a place, in a space, where it’s all rigged?” said Holness.

Marin speaks on why this story matters to some Canadians.

“It made sense for all three of us to want to examine the situation, because although it’s on foreign soil, DR and Haiti, in terms of where the story is taking place, we have such a significant, not only black population in this country, but Haitian-Canadian population in this country, so the story matters to Canadians who live here,” said Marin.

Holness shares what she believes is still missing in the Canadian film industry.

“Voices of the people of color, voices of young black people and women in particular, without a doubt. There are so little spaces where we have gotten to tell our stories in meaningful ways that can impact the larger culture,” said Holness. “It is changing, but we’re behind.”

“I echo that strongly. I do think that people are actually finding their voices from diverse communities and lining up to speak up and speak out and demand the space that we are all entitled to,” said Marin.

The film was selected at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, and one of the directors of photography, Nadia Hallgren, directed the Michelle Obama Netflix documentary Becoming.

The National Film Board of Canada is presenting the new documentary at the Hot Docs online festival this year which starts on May 28^th. It has been awarded the Special Jury Prize, Canadian Feature Documentary by Hot Docs.

“Much of Canada thinks of the Dominican Republic as that cheap getaway tourist spot, that allows you to take the whole family and not break the bank, and take advantage of the beaches, but hopefully this creates awareness to understand who’s serving you that drink on the beach, and who are the people who are washing those beds, and those floors and bathrooms. Are they being paid, or exploited? Are they stateless?” said Stephenson.

For more information on Stateless, visit https://mediaspace.nfb.ca/epk/stateless/

To watch Stateless during the Hot Docs online film festival, visit https://tinyurl.com/ybkljmy2