To be born again. Leaving one’s country, one’s friends, one’s family in order to choose oneself, one’s identity and one’s security. This new freedom, Canada offers it to many LGBTQ+ immigrants. However, it is a long process, and the sacrifices are immense.
The documentary reborn is interested in those people who wish to change their destiny. Yazan, awaiting refugee status, had to cut ties with his mother for fear of reprisals from his father. Nata, for her part, is the mother of five children and has spent almost four years in Canada without seeing them in order to proceed with all the immigration applications. Eilyn lived several years without her partner, taken in Colombia. Aida, meanwhile, begins her transition with hormone therapy, a dream she would not even have dared to imagine in Iran.
These stories, each more touching than the other, exist by the thousands. Martyred for being born with a gender identity or a non-heteronormative sexual orientation, these people become the target of threats, violence and hatred. Fleeing to be reborn then becomes the only solution.
Shot over several months, the touching documentary of almost an hour is a shocking reminder of reality elsewhere, but here too. Although Canada appears to be a haven, the delays — here pre-pandemic — are staggering. reborn is thus a tribute to all those humans who have sacrificed so much, simply to live, which should never have happened.
To see in video