The Politics of Identity

IN 2015, the Vancouver-based filmmaking team of Steve Adams and Sean Horlor were looking for a queer-themed documentary subject. At that point, anti-immigrant and -refugee sentiments were being inflamed, especially south of the border.

But then one of Adams’ relatives posted a misleading meme on social media about refugees and immigrants and what a strain they are on government resources. Both Adams and Horlor could see this wasn’t just a problem in America, but that these attitudes were real in Canada too. They began developing the idea of a feature-length film about the Canadian system of refugee sponsorship, specifically with a queer refugee as the subject.

The result, the NFB’s , came after years of research and approximately 15 months of filming, including during