Blue Has No Borders by Jessi Gutch
People in Folkestone are living closer to France than almost any of us. They voted for Brexit, and they now watch the daily arrival of boats carrying asylum-seeking refugees. Tensions have arisen between ‘woke’ progressives and more conservative residents who hold a nostalgic view of Empire and Britain’s role in the world order.
The town has a long defensive history, and the daily arrival of people seeking sanctuary has evoked a range of feelings, from shame at our response to those in need to fear about what their arrival means.
A young filmmaker, Jessi Gutch, moves to the town and, in trying to get to know her new neighbours, meets and films several characters over a number of years who hold differing views on what needs to happen there. In attempting to find some common ground between them, she navigates political, racial, class and gender boundaries, all filtered through the ongoing issue of the arrival of asylum seekers and illegal immigrants.
The film is set against the continuing backdrop of various ‘Stop the Boats’ campaigns and ‘Take Back Control’ agendas, whether political, amplified on social media or spilling over into physical confrontation on the streets. By listening to the voices of Folkestone’s residents, the film moves beyond a polarised view of racists versus refugees and asks whether there is truth in the sentiment that there is more that unites us than divides us.
As she grows closer to her new neighbours, Jessi becomes increasingly attached to them and begins to see the world from their perspective. One of the central questions the film seeks to address is this: what do the various people she meets, from an asylum seeker to an arch-Brexiteer to a drag artist, believe it takes to be British?
Gutch herself is a key participant in the film, and we are drawn into her real conversations with the film’s characters. A film such as this can easily become a procession of talking heads, but by including herself she creates an intimacy that is all too often missing from documentaries.
At the film’s ‘conclusion’, she organises an unlikely meeting between them all, inviting them to share a meal on a blustery seashore, on the very beaches that cause such strong feelings when the refugees land there. Jessi has said she wanted everyone involved to feel they were part of a ‘collective essay’, their individual stories reflecting aspects of life in a town often featured in the media, yet rarely truly understood.
