Female Transnational Migrations and Diasporas in European “Immigration Cinema”

Abstract

Immigration films made by women give their subjects a voice that is J. often at odds with much of the general assumptions on female immigration. Flores de otro mundo (Flowers from Another World,) by IciarBollaín (1999); Inch’Allah dimanche (God Willing, It’s Sunday) by Yamina Benguigui (2001); Extranjeras (Female Foreigners) by Helena Taberna (2002); and Bhaji on the Beach (1993) by Gurinder Chadha emphasize the essential role of female communities for adaptation and interracial coexistence and reflect on cultural and religious aspects that affect and frequently prevent or delay women’s full integration in the adopted country. Concentrating on women immigrants’ interaction with diasporic and adapted communities, these films ignore the widespread yet incomplete media sensationalist discourses on female migration and present alternatives to immigration films that opt for stories about women caught in no-exit situations and that are constructed in terms of exploitation, seclusion, and isolation. The films show a tendency found within immigration films made by women: a common desire to undo female migrants’ invisibility. They focus on the processes of family reunion and integration of migrant women within the workforce and highlight their contribution to the preservation of traditions as well as the creation of sociality and solidarity networks.