Promise and Unrest

An intimate portrayal of a migrant woman performing global care work and long-distance motherhood in her role as sole provider for an extended family back in the Philippines.

Overview

Through struggle and sacrifice migrant women often stand as sole breadwinners in the transnational family. Separated from her daughter Gracelle at 7 months, Noemi Barredo left the Philippines for work in Malaysia before arriving in Ireland in 2000. Filmed over a five-year period, "Promise and Unrest" is an intimate portrayal of a migrant woman working as a caregiver and long-distance mother, while assuming the responsibility of providing for her extended family in the Philippines. "Promise and Unrest", winner of the Best Film Award at the ETNOFILm3 Festival in Croatia, captures the everyday intricacies of Noemi and Gracelle’s relationship, their reunion in Ireland through the `right to family reunification‘, and the beginnings of a domestic life together in the same country for the first time. Narrated by Noemi and Gracelle in Waray and English with English subtitles.