Massacre River: The Woman Without a Country

This character-driven documentary that takes place in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, two ethnically and culturally distinct countries that have been forced to share an island since colonial times. The film follows Pikilina, a Dominican-born woman of Haitian descent, and her family. Racial and political violence erupt when the country of her birth, the Dominican Republic, reverses its birthright citizenship law and she is left stateless, along with 250,000 others. With the stroke of a pen, generations of people are left without a homeland. This sets Pikilina off on an epic journey as she struggles to regain her Dominican citizenship. Pikilina now faces the choice of fighting for her rightful citizenship and exposing herself to danger, or fleeing with her family to Haiti, a country she barely knows. In a country already rife with racism, this contentious law further stokes an atmosphere of distrust and animosity between Dominicans and Haitians, and gives tacit official support for xenophobia.