Shelter, a portrait in transit(ion): gender and migration

The documentary Shelter - A Farewell to Eden (Italy, 2019, directed by Enrico Masi) presents a poetic portrait of Pepsi, a transexual Philippine refugee who lives between France and Italy. The portrait of Pepsi is set against the background of a wider landscape, as the film retraces the migratory routes she has taken and that many other migrants had followed. Pepsi is in a position of double transition: a geographical and a social one. The geographical transition is defined by her story of migration and seeking asylum. The social one concerns gender, given that she has started sex reassignment therapy, but at the time of filming, she interrupted it because of circumstances that the film does not disclose. This chapter analyses how this particular story provides a narrative to think about the intersection of class, gender, and nationality in the definition of one’s own identity. By undertaking an intersectional critique, this chapter discusses how the film’s aesthetics incorporate the transit(ion) of Pepsi by giving depth to the narrative and representations of Pepsi and other migrants. Three artistic choices are analysed in detail: the composition of the portrait of Pepsi, who always preserves her anonymity; the way that landscapes are filmed with the camera going through the territory; and the organic construction of the film around a hybridization of formats (16mm, 2K, DV, and archival footage of different natures). The chapter further demonstrates how the director bypasses the problems of representation of queer migrant narratives in documentary filmmaking by involving Pepsi in the definition of the narrative and in the creation of the film. Enrico Masi creates a platform for Pepsi to act on the performativity of her identity, a form of agency that creates its own condition of reality independent of hegemonic structures of power (Butler, 1990/2017).