The Challengers

2022. TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO. 21’. DOCUMENTARY

“The Challengers”, a competitive underdog volleyball club, nurtures community for Venezuelan refugees and asylum-seekers in Trinidad and Tobago. In the film, we learn about the team’s fight for inclusion, spending time with some of the volleyball players, on and off the court, as they prepare for an upcoming tournament. 

A documentary by Bird’s Eye View Productions, produced for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, with support from the European Union, through the Inclusive Cities/Communities of Solidarity project. 

Director’s statement

Environmental, political and economic crises have brought many of us across the world face to face with displacement and its accompanying – often politicized – complexities. The Challengers (2022) picks up where my previous documentary, Nearest Neighbours (2019), leaves off, after the Venezuelan migrant registration process was initially facilitated by the Government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. 

Just over 16,500 Venezuelans were registered by the Trinidad and Tobago authorities during that initial process. This provided some measure of relief, an official acknowledgement of their presence in the country, allowing them to live and work legally for six months, with another six month extension after a review. In 2021, the Government had a re-registration process, open only to those who had registered in 2019; only 13,800 Venezuelans re-registered. 

Even with their temporary legal status, these refugees and migrants are still vulnerable. They are exempt from most social services, able to access only primary/emergency health care at public health facilities, and their children are not allowed to attend public school without special permission from the authorities. Underpinning these challenges remains the fact that Trinidad and Tobago has no official Refugee Policy or legislation, even though the country signed on to the 1951 Refugee Convention in November 2000. 

Nearest Neighbours called us to question: “In a world where innocent people suffer the consequences of socio-political and economic fallouts, what is the collective responsibility of humanity to alleviate this inequity? Can anything be done and why should we even care?”

The Challengers follows up on this, highlighting the endeavours of an ordinary hero who saw the potential of otherwise marginalised people, and challenged the barriers that kept them excluded. There’s still more work to be done, but the story gives hope that with passion, acceptance, patience and kindness, it’s possible to overcome any challenge.