Conversation with Sonita Gale
Film Director
Sonita Gale is a British Asian writer, producer and director. Elevating the stories of migrants and marginalised communities is at the forefront of her work. Sonita’s debut feature documentary as director, HOSTILE, is an award-winning and BAFTA and BIFA-longlisted film exposing the ‘hostile environment’ for migrants living in the UK. Told through the stories of four participants from Black and Asian backgrounds, the film reveals the impact of the evolving ‘hostile environment’ – a term used by the UK government in 2012 to illustrate the atmosphere they wanted to create for migrants, with the intention of provoking them to leave of their own accord.
We want to share the important work Sonita is doing, while also using the opportunity to foster knowledge from artists across different art forms.
What as art professionals can we learn from a filmmaker like yourself? Whether it be about how to tell a story or how to connect with an audience?
Each medium has a unique way of creating a sense of empathy and reframing opinions. I believe filmmaking is particularly powerful as a strong sense of empathy can be created through the moving image. Particularly in documentaries, there is the space to follow a story for a prolonged period of time and get into the story. I felt privileged to have met the participants in my film, and for them to have trusted me to tell their stories.
The research process for the film was very intense, keeping up to date with ever-evolving immigration legislation and ensuring that everything was meticulously fact-checked... It was paramount that alongside the historical and political elements of the film, the stories of the participants were at the forefront. There is a very real and long lasting effect of these policies, which needs to be seen.
It’s important that my work has a life beyond the screen through impact campaigns and community engagement. The power of film, particularly in a digital age, is that it is so transportable. It can be present in many spaces at once, and influence opinions across the country and globe simultaneously.
Why is using art and film as a medium to present such personal, powerful stories to the public so important?
I believe that as filmmakers and artists, we have a duty to use our platform for good. We have the power to bridge the gaps in communication through our work. Artists and filmmakers have the ability to provide a mirror back to society by sharing these powerful stories and to inspire dialogue.
On the flip-side, I think it’s critical to think about people beyond the ‘target audience’. I’m talking about people who might not initially relate to or agree with the subject matter - and policy makers. How can we connect the people who are making decisions about people’s lives to the very people that they are actually affecting? I think that filmmaking can definitely play a part in this - showing the real-life impact of these policies on individuals and their families in a way that inspires empathy on a human level.
You mentioned in an interview that you felt like a journalist during the research for the Hostile project. What other roles did you take on that you didn't expect when making your directorial debut?
As a debut director, I was constantly learning. Balancing the role of the writer, director and producer was challenging - but I felt compelled to take on multiple roles as this film is so personal to me and my family history. With my producer hat on, I was raising the finance alongside filming - no easy feat in the height of the pandemic.
With the academic nature of the subject matter, I found myself re-entering the world of education through the medium of film. I wrote countless ‘essays’ with the team - gathering swathes of research into immigration policies, history, timelines, articles and biographies until the narrative film took shape and I was able to understand how everything was more interconnected than I thought.
How has your personal experience and history influenced making the Hostile film?
Hostile is a film that is deeply personal to me. My parents migrated to the UK in the 1950s, almost a decade after their lives had changed dramatically due to the partition of India and Pakistan. My mother made a perilous journey, walking for 16 consecutive days, over 180 kilometres, from Lahore to the Punjab on the Indian side of the border, witnessing the loss of life and livelihoods for reasons that would never fully make sense. Their story of migration, and of eventually making a home in England, became the seed of an idea to make a film about the experiences of migrant communities.
[My mother’s] story is still so poignant, over 50 years later. It’s clear to me that if my parents came to the UK today, they would have found it very difficult to integrate, to start careers, to buy a house, to contribute, and to raise a family. My mother passed away during the post-production of Hostile. The feeling of loss, and the loss of connection to my blood line to India hit me hard. The strength of her journey and her life has given me the strength to tell this story.
When I began filming, my focus turned to the very communities I grew up with: Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims, Black and White working-class communities. The more I filmed, the more I learned about the Hostile Environment, a term used by the government in 2012 to illustrate an atmosphere the government wanted to create for migrants in the country, to make life here as inhospitable as possible, so they would choose to leave on their own accord – or be deported.
What has been some of the response from audiences/ press from Hostile that has stuck out to you?
I had no idea how much this interest would translate to a wider general audience. Jon Snow (Former Anchor, Channel 4 News) described the film as “an important and revealing film with critical questions and revelations about UK society in the 21st Century.”
As the film was released alongside a Q&A tour, I got to see firsthand how audiences have responded, and it has been overwhelming and inspiring. It has been heartwarming to see that they have a genuine interest in the subjects featured in the film, and what has happened to them since filming wrapped.
As a filmmaker, it has been great to get recognition from filmmaking bodies like BAFTA and the BIFAs, which both longlisted the film for awards, and festivals, whose interest in Hostile has been so encouraging for a first-time director.
My goal is to start a dialogue between individuals who are unaware of these issues and to bring together grassroots organisations, law firms, policy-makers and politicians in order to enact positive change.
Do you have any advice for female filmmakers wanting to create films and documentaries?
The first thing I would say is that, historically speaking, women have experienced the world in a vastly different way to men - as children all the way to adulthood. And as a result of this our perspectives on society and culture are different. So my advice would be to tell stories that come naturally to you, and that are inspired by your particular viewpoint, rather than trying to conform or compete with that which has come before. In a traditionally male-dominated industry, that doesn’t seem to be the best path forward.
I also feel that women are natural storytellers, and are connected to communities and our environment in ways which are not properly celebrated. If you feel like you are acting outside your comfort zone, I think that is generally speaking a sign that you’re on the right track.
As more and more women are able to make progress and climb the ladder, so to speak, there is a real opportunity to nurture future generations and get the kind of representation in documentary filmmaking, or any other kind of professional endeavour, that is long overdue.
This spotlight includes only extracts of our conversation with Sonita. For the full interview, email the office here.
Contact Sonita Gale
Hostile has screened across the country at Picturehouse and independent cinemas, and has been selected for a number of international film festivals. In 2021, the film debuted at Raindance Film Festival and was an official selection of Cambridge Film Festival, London Migration Film Festival, and the South London Film Festival, where it won the award for Best Documentary Feature.
Tickets available for upcoming screenings and Q&As at www.hostiledocumentary.com/tickets