Red Star Line Documentary Film
Red Star Line is a 3-part documentary series by Daniël Cattier and Fabio Wuytack, in coproduction with VRT-Canvas, Casakafka Pictures, Eklektik Production, RTBF, supported by the Flanders Media Fund, the French community of Belgium, Wallimage-Bruxellimage, The Belgian federal Tax Shelter.
Using the story of the Red Star Line as a narrative vessel, this three-part documentary explains why European emigrants left their homes behind for an uncertain future. It details their trips to Antwerp, their travel across the ocean, and their adjustments to their new lives in America. Theirs are intimate yet epic journeys in which past and present merge in the forging of new identities.
The film, which is shot on location in Antwerp, New York, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine, uses ‘emotional archaeology’ to weave a richer narrative than could be conveyed through a string of facts and figures. And walking in the footsteps of Red Star Line passengers, surprising similarities are revealed to the experiences of modern immigrants.