Arrival - Short Film

"Arrival" is a short film that captures the crucial first 6 weeks of a refugee mother and daughter's resettlement journey in New Zealand. Based on director Ahmed Osman's personal experience, this film aims to tell an authentic story about the challenges refugees face immediately after arriving in a new country. We are seeking additional funding beyond our NZ Film Commission grant to bring this important story to life.

Director - Ahmed Osman

Osman is a producer and filmmaker born in Somalia and raised in Wellington. Motivated by telling diverse and inclusive stories, Ahmed has directed the award-winning docu-series Third Culture Minds for TVNZ+, a series on the mental health and wellbeing of young migrants and refugees in Aotearoa. He is the producer of Miles From Nowhere (for SKY/Neon) and co-founder of Homegrown Pictures.

Writer - Francesca McKenzie

A writer and 1st AD with experience in commercials, docu-series, and short films. This year, Francesca is developing her first feature screenplay, a psychological horror called Changeling, which has received Seed funding from the NZ Writer’s Guild.

Producer - Alyssa Medel

A director, writer, and producer in screen and theatre - Medel has garnered experience across various productions that highlight and empower minority voices. Arrival makes her second NZFC Fresh Short film, after Bye Mum.

Producer - Isaiah Tour

A producer, director, and editor - Tour’s first film, A Life Like This, was showcased at the 2018 Cambodia International Film Festival, DC Shorts International Film Festival, and the Māoriland Film Festival. He is the producer for another NZFC Fresh Short film Grassroots.

Making a film takes a village. We need to hire cast and crew, secure locations, and pay for travel, equipment, catering, wardrobe, and composer fees (to list a few). Even short films are an expensive undertaking.

Though we are rallying a community together to support this film, we want to be able to compensate and adequately care for everyone involved.

While we are fortunate to have received a grant from the NZ Film Commission, we need to raise additional funding to bring Ahmed's story to life.

Filming at real locations that refugees travel through every year, the story is contained within a 6-week period from when the plane first lands to their placement in a permanent home.

This is a story about the emotional pressure both parents and children face when they leave their home and support network to start a new life in a foreign land. The mother and daughter in Arrival must battle to overcome the loss of their family, learning a new language, and the changing dynamic in their own relationship.

Stories on this topic primarily follow families at international refugee camps, or track them in the months and years after resettling. Very few show this strange period in a refugee’s life - the time when they have just landed in a new country, when the loss of family and home are still painfully fresh. Arrival will be the first of it's kind within New Zealand, a film told by a former refugee that captures the confusion, chaos and uncertainty that people face when they come to a new country.

This film will be the first of its kind in New Zealand - a refugee story told by a former refugee, focusing on the critical initial period of resettlement. It has the potential to combat poor media representation of refugees while building empathy and understanding within the wider New Zealand public. The project provides an opportunity to educate audiences about the confusion, chaos, and uncertainty that refugees face when arriving in a new country, told through an authentic and personal lens.

The story fills a crucial gap in refugee narratives, as most stories either focus on international refugee camps or long-term resettlement, missing this vital transition period that shapes the refugee experience.