Educational Media Reviews Online

This thoughtful documentary short, Keep Saray Home, provides an up-close look at the heartbreaking experiences of three young families facing deportation orders. Though Saray, his wife and children are the main focus of the film, we also see the stories of two other war refugees who have spent most of their lives in the United States, brought to the U.S. legally as children, placed in difficult environments, and then suddenly facing deportation due to decade old crimes. Ultimately, these refugees are revictimized, as the families and homes they built in a new land are now threatened to be torn apart anew. Similar to the classic Filmmaker’s Library title Out of Status by Pia Sawhney and Sanjna N. Singh, director Brian Redondo takes great care in letting the families and community activists tell their own stories.

Keep Saray Home is highly recommended as an excellent though painful update and reminder that little has changed for immigrant families grappling with deportation in the 20 years since Out of Status was released. As such, Keep Saray Home is highly recommended for courses focused on immigration, legal studies, ethnic studies, human rights and gender studies. The film is particularly well suited to community public library screenings as a concise and thought-provoking opportunity for discussion around how communities might support neighbors living through the nightmare of forced deportation.

Awards:
Best Documentary Short, Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival; Best Editing, VC Film Fest, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival; Best Documentary Short, Newburyport Documentary Film Festival; Best Documentary Short, Seattle Asian American Film Festival

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