Hostile

Hostile is an award-winning feature-length documentary written, produced and directed by BAFTA-longlisted filmmaker Sonita Gale. It focuses on the UK’s complicated relationship with its migrant communities. Told through the stories of four participants from Black and Asian backgrounds, the film reveals the impact of the evolving ‘hostile environment’ – a term used by the UK government in 2012 to illustrate the atmosphere they wanted to create for migrants, with the intention of provoking them to leave of their own accord.

The film explores how the lives of international students, members of the Windrush generation and ‘Highly-Skilled Migrants’ have been affected. After decades of hostile immigration policies, Britain has reached a crisis point. With Brexit, the Points Based Immigration System and the Nationality and Borders Bill taking effect, the film asks: once the ‘hostile environment’ has targeted all migrants, who will it extend to next?

 

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Sonita Gale is a British Asian writer, producer and director. Elevating the stories of migrants and marginalised communities is at the forefront of her work.

Sonita’s debut feature documentary as director, HOSTILE, is an award-winning and BAFTA and BIFA-longlisted film exposing the ‘hostile environment’ for migrants living in the UK. Hostile has screened across the country at Picturehouse and independent cinemas, and has been selected for a number of international film festivals, including the UK Asian Film Festival, Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, Budapest Movie awards and Manchester Film Festival, ZagrebDox and many more. In 2021, the film debuted at Raindance Film Festival and was an official selection of Cambridge Film Festival, London Migration Film Festival, and the South London Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Documentary Feature