''Stateless'' is a Canadian documentary film, directed by

Michèle Stephenson Michèle Stephenson is a Haitian filmmaker and former human rights attorney. Career With spouse Joe Brewster, Stephenson founded the Rada Film Group. While raising a family in Brooklyn, New York, they directed and produced documentary and fict ...

and released in 2020. The film centres on the crisis of

Haitians in the Dominican Republic The Haitian minority of the Dominican Republic (; ; ) is the largest ethnic minority in the Dominican Republic since the early 20th century. History After the Dominican War of Independence ended, Haitian immigration to the Dominican Republic w ...

, many of whom have been left stateless by the Dominican Republic's 2013 decision to strip citizenship from Haitian immigrants and their descendants.

Statelessness In international law, a stateless person is someone who is "not considered as a national by any state under the operation of its law". Some stateless people are also refugees. However, not all refugees are stateless, and many people who are s ...

is a widespread human rights issue in the world, affecting every continent, with unknown millions of people being affected. The film premiered on April 15, 2020 at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

. It was subsequently screened as part of the 2020

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and Jun ...

, where it won the special jury prize for Canadian documentaries, and at the

BlackStar Film Festival The BlackStar Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by BlackStar Projects. The festival focuses on films about and by Black, brown and indigenous people from around the world. It takes place each August in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. I ...

, where it won the award for Best Feature Documentary. It was released for streaming through the

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

's website. The film received a

Canadian Screen Award The Canadian Screen Awards () are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media ( web series) productions. Given annually by the Academy ...

nomination for Best Feature Length Documentary at the

9th Canadian Screen Awards The 9th Canadian Screen Awards were presented by the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television from 17–20 May 2021 to honour achievements in Canadian film, television, and digital media production in 2020. The presentations were held as a seri ...

in 2021, and was a nominee for the

DGC Allan King Award for Best Documentary Film The DGC Allan King Award for Best Documentary Film is an annual Canadian award, presented by the Directors Guild of Canada to honour the year's best direction in documentary films in Canada. The award was renamed in 2010 to honour influential Canadi ...

at the 2021

Directors Guild of Canada The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC; ) is a Canadian labour union representing more than 5,500 professionals from 48 different occupations in the Canadian film and television industry. Founded in 1962, the DGC represents directors, editors, assist ...

awards.Kelly Townsend
"All My Puny Sorrows leads film nominees for 2021 DGC Awards"
'' Playback'', September 24, 2021.

References

External links

* *
Stateless
' at

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...

* 2020 films 2020 documentary films Canadian documentary films Black Canadian films 2020s Canadian films {{2020s-Canada-documentary-film-stub