The Cinematheque

Vancouver Premiere

There were 750,000 undocumented migrants living in Spain in 2016, and Mou, originally from Gambia, is one of them. Twenty-four when we first meet him, Mou has already been 10 years in Barcelona, waiting for his papers to come through and dreaming of what might follow: a job, a house, a family. But for now, Mou spends his days roaming the streets of the touristy El Raval neighbourhood with his shopping cart, collecting scrap metal from dumpsters, and trying to avoid the attention of the police. His existence is a paradox: one of perpetual movement and eternal waiting—and in the course of the three years that the documentary follows Mou, we see the toll this stressful and uncertain life takes on him. Filmed at street level, in expressive black-and-white, this is an authentic portrait of a person we cross paths with every day, but never really see.

Post-screening discussion with Kirby Huminuik, a researcher, educator and clinician who holds a PhD in Counselling Psychology from UBC and the Certificate in Global Mental Health from the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma. She works with refugees and survivors of torture and political violence, both locally and internationally.

Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia.