About the Documentary
The Story
Golf Alpha Yankee is an audacious vérité documentary that celebrates the unvarnished lives of five gay refugees from Iran as they wait in limbo in Turkey, hoping to be granted permanent resettlement in the United States or Canada. As they welcome Rick, an American director, into their homes, the refugees endeavor to puncture his preconceptions. They navigate him away from traditional tropes of victimization and toward representing them as regular people with quirks, routines, desires, and most importantly, humor.
The Style
For their own protection, the subjects’ faces were never recorded on film. Intercutting video with original 2D animation, threads of present vérité, past stories, and the filmmaking process itself weave together a non-linear narrative that explores the nuances of personality and condition. Beyond the laughs and cries, the process of making the film is its own character, inviting the viewer behind the scenes to witness the authenticity of the project. Alef insists we include arguments with the director. Raj learns to use the sound equipment. Zerin, imagining what his mother would say if his mother participated in the documentary, writes a script that is later filmed with an actress.
As these humans undress emotionally, they reveal a film about discovery. The filmmaker discovers a truth different from his assumptions. The refugees discover their desire to upend representational norms. And the viewer discovers how much they have in common with a gay asylum seeker from Iran. These people are not “the other.” They have become our friends.
