Acclaimed writer Saleem Haddad’s first foray into filmmaking MARCO is a heartbreaking tale about the plight of a undocumented Syrian LGBTQ refugee in London who becomes a sex worker simply so he can afford to eat.
After a long arduous journey by way of Turkey and the Refugee Camp in Calais to being a stowaway in a shipping container, Ahmed arrived in London a few months. One month ago the Authorities released him from the Detention Center onto the streets with just £30, and a future appointment with the Home Office to plead his case.
Online where he advertises his services he adopts the name of Marco (Marwan Kaabour) and claiming he is from Barcelona, as admitting to being a gay Syrian refugee will not only limit his number of clients, but also expose him to potential harm.
His client this particular night is Omar (Zed Josef) a successful businessman from Lebanon who has been living in London for the past decade. It’s a lonely life in which he spends most of his time working and ignoring his mother’s phone calls from back home.
Marco’s accent gives him away and once he admits his real heritage to Omar he is able to open up and share the traumas of the last few months getting to London. The two men bond, not over sex, but the commonality of their backgrounds. Omar may have been able to immigrate to London the legal way but he can still sympathise with being gay and an Arab in a alien culture.
Haddad’s powerful and touching tale is a jolting reminder of not only the sheer inequities involved with being homeless and stateless and LGBTQ, but how it takes away the basic right of people to control their own lives.
This is the story of two men who started an evening of intended sexual pleasure and then who are forced to face the actual realities of how their lives have turned out. The even sadder part, is that we know that they are not alone by a long shot, and that the numbers of LGBTQ refugees will keep growing at an impossible rate.
Haddad’s excellent short film that makes for compelling viewing is now screening FREE on You Tube .
