Babel's Market

4 immigrants struggle to adapt their cultural identities in Europe's largest Market in Turin, Italy

Directed by Tomás Sheridan
Produced by Peter Gerard

In Babel’s Market we follow the lives of immigrants from different countries, religions, ages, and social backgrounds who try to belong without losing their identity:

Leo studies form Chinese books to pass his exams in logistics at an Italian university while dreaming of playing football for Liverpool. He recently got involved with a group of second-generation Chinese youths who want to open an Italo-Chinese cultural association to bridge these two very different cultures.

Violeta is a 30-year old Albanian widow bringing up her four children on a cleaning ladies salary; they are growing up as Italians but she wants them to remember their roots. With her papers in order and a steady job she is trying to move away from Porta Palazzo where her husband was stabbed to death two years ago.

Daniel is studying Arabic because “humility in an enemy of racism”. As a Jew brought up amongst survivors of the holocaust he knows the dangers of discrimination and works as a volunteer to help North Africans (mostly Muslims) to integrate and get permits permits.

Siham is a young Muslim woman who married Wei Jian despite resistance from his Chinese family. As a clandestine Wei Jian risks arrest and expulsion every time he leaves the flat, but being the only breadwinner in the household it is a risk he must take to put food on the table for Siham and their baby girl, Ranya.

Facing racism, tough immigration laws and exploitation our characters represent an increasingly marginalised portion of European society that is often forgotten.