MARABOU
When most people were trapped in their homes because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Afro-Haitian refugees continued to wandering to space.
They were crossing mountains, rivers and seas of Latin America, with the main goal of reaching the Mexican border with the USA, in order to finally cross the "Promised Land".
Haitian refugees are people chased by poverty and hunger, natural disasters and political instability.
They are the “Marabou”, which like the marabou birds, migrate for a better fortune.
Marabou is a term of Haitian origin denoting multiracial admixture. The term, which comes originally from the African Marabouts, describes the offspring of a Haitian person of mixed race: European, African, Taíno and South Asian.
-
THOMAS SIDERISDirector
-
THOMAS SIDERISWriter
-
THOMAS SIDERISProducer
-
Project Type:Documentary, Short
-
Runtime:24 minutes 59 seconds
-
Country of Origin:Mexico
-
Aspect Ratio:16:9
-
Film Color:Color
-
First-time Filmmaker:No
-
Student Project:No
-
Digital Cinema Package:Unavailable
He studied Political Science and Public Administration at the Law School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, specializing in Mass Media, and attended directing courses at the Stavrakos School. He holds a master's degree in Human Geography from the University of the Aegean. He earned his doctorate in Human Geography from Harokopio University.
Some of his specific research fields include Body and Space in Cinema, Spatial Representations, and Identity Formation. His doctoral dissertation is titled "Routes of Identity: Vulnerable Bodies, Fluid Spatial Realities, and Conditions of Entrapment: Urban enclaves, hubs, and shelters for patients, refugees, migrants, and urban nomads."
Scientific and Other Affiliations
He is a member of the International Academy of Social Sciences, based in Florida, USA. He is an advisory member of the Journalists and Writers Foundation, a global partner of the UN, based in New York.
Work and Awards
He works in the information sector of ERT (Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation) and is the creator of thematic cycles of radio documentaries, placing particular emphasis on human rights advocacy, especially for refugees and migrants. He has produced radio documentaries against racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism and is the producer of over 40 radio documentaries focused on the Holocaust, featuring oral testimonies from Greece and other European countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, and Hungary.
In May 2021, he received the Torch Award from the World Affairs Council of Harrisburg and became the first non-American citizen to be honored with this award.
He was awarded an honorary distinction In 2018 from the Athanasios Botsis Foundation for the Promotion of Journalism.
He was honored by the Austrian organization ALBERT SCHWEITZER, a global partner of the UN, for his journalistic work on the program “UNGUARDED CROSSING.” The rationale for the award states that he has done “excellent work in making known through the media the atrocities against humanity” and “directing public attention to refugee issues.”
He has received more than 40 awards and honors for his documentaries across Europe, Asia, Africa, and America.
