"The refugee story, of people being separated from their homeland against their will, is always a very moving one. And it's told beautifully here – sensitively, but not hand-wringingly worthily." - The Guardian
Grierson Awards
Best Documentary on
a Contemporary Issue
WINNER
Moving To Mars (2009)
Director: Mat Whitecross
Moving to Mars follows two refugee families from Burma over the course of a year that will change their lives completely. Forced from their homeland by the repressive military junta, they have lived in a Thai refugee camp for many years.
A resettlement scheme offers them the chance of a new life, but their new home, in the British city of Sheffield, will be different to everything they have ever known.
With intimate access, this feature-length documentary from Mat Whitecross (The Road to Guantanamo) depicts the families’ moving and sometimes humorous struggles with 21st century Britain. Their stories give us a unique insight into the experiences of displaced people throughout the UK, whilst showing the human consequences of Burma’s political unrest.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
In 2006, Mat won the Silver Bear at the Berlin Film Festival for his co-direction of The Road to Guantanamo (with acclaimed director Michael Winterbottom). Since then, he's co-directed The Shock Doctrine, a documentary based on the best selling book by Naomi Klein, and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll, a biopic of musician Ian Dury. Moving to Mars is his solo directorial debut on a feature documentary.