What if a stranger, an asylum seeker, turned up at your doorstep? Would you let him enter?

Alumna Kirsten Tan (Dept of English Language and Literature) deals with these questions in her award winning film, Dahdi (2014). The film is inspired by the Maritime and Port Authority’s controversial decision to deny a boat of Rohingya refugees from docking in Singapore’s shores. Stranded and surviving on scanty food supplies, the boat skirted international waters for a week before being forced to turn back. Shocked by the state’s response and the dearth of media attention on the issue, Tan refused to let the story be expunged. She thus channeled her creative energy and sympathy by creating Dahdi.

Dahdi, which means grandmother in the Rohingya language, tells the tale of an elderly widow who provides asylum for a young girl in the former’s lonely home at Pulau Ubin. Neither speak the same language, nor understand each other’s culture. Yet, there is a deep sense of fraternity. In exploring the relationship between the two, Tan presents the Rohingya refugee crisis as a moral and ethical one. A poignant film, Tan challenges the legalism and pragmatism which opposed the Rohingya refugees from entering Singapore.

Dadhi won Best Southeast Asian Short Film at the 25th Singapore International Film Festival.

To watch the trailer, click here.