'People on the Move' draws attention to stranded refugees

The film "People on the Move" was created to draw international attention to refugees stranded in "no man's land" between the Poland and Belarus border.

Dr. Dominika Laster is a performance researcher, scholar, and artist at The University of New Mexico, and created the film to amplify the work of local activists. Laster says that although the film doesn't take place in the United States, she encourages the community to get involved.

"While the film documents the specificity of the situation on the Poland-Belarus border-it is relevant to audiences worldwide for several compelling reasons," Laster said. "...forced migration is a global issue that affects us all."

Laster is a Polish native and visits her home country often. She is also a subject matter expert and has been heavily involved in research about refugees and displacement.

"I have engaged in research on forced migration for about a decade now," Laster said. "I'm not only interested in the so-called "problem" of forced migration but rather the creative strategies of reception of displaced persons."

The film will follow researchers into the dense forests of "no man's land," where refugees are becoming creative to survive. Many are forced by the Belarusian government to flee and are left shelterless for weeks - or even months.

The canopy of trees disguises struggles of refugees like limited access to food, water, and medical care. Refugees in Belaruse are often brutalized, and Laster was horrified to find a video of a 16-year-old Yemeni boy that was being attacked by the Belarusian authorities.

She created this film to highlight these struggles, which might seem taken out of a page from the Civil War. Laster is dedicated to telling the stories of refugees, and this is not her first rodeo. Laster was involved in several humanitarian efforts before deciding to document the lives of refugees living between the borders of Poland and Belarus.

"I've conducted fieldwork in Syrian refugee camps in Lebanon and border regions such as Melilla/Nador in Morocco, US/Mexico, and Poland/Ukraine," Laster said. "I had been following the situation unfolding on the Polish-Belarusian border since the start of the border crisis in the summer of 2021… I decided to document this humanitarian crisis, which has been vastly underreported."

Even though New Mexicans are over five thousand miles away, Laster has served up a slice of truth from the Poland-Belarus border that gives us a glimpse at humanitarian efforts across the seas.

As activists support refugees in the forests, Laster supports them from the big screen, which is why she developed "People on the Move" - to inspire change.

"While film is not a medium that I have worked with in the past, I felt that the situation required an intervention that was swift and could reach a wide audience," Laster said. "It was my strong hope that the film would constitute an important artifact…"

The film will debut on Nov. 23 at The Guild Cinema at 1 p.m., and faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to learn about this growing crisis.