DIASPORA 2022

Loneliness is a Universal Language

In 2022 Deco Dawson released his first feature film DIASPORA, a vast departure from his earlier, stylized short films, but by no means conventional. Inspired by the work of Ulrich Seidl, Gus Van Sant’s “Death Trilogy”, Aki Kaurismäki, Jim Jarmusch, and Béla Tarr, DIASPORA belongs to the long tradition of slow cinema. While the film is visually quite different than his earlier work, it displays a tender, emotional, psychological portrait of quiet suffering and disconnect, with hints of Dawson’s surrealism.

Filmed amongst the fading architecture of Winnipeg’s North End and Downtown core using a riveting tableau style, crossed with active handheld camera movement, while shot in 25 different languages, DIASPORA seeks to uncover the loneliness, heartbreaking struggles and absurdity tied to arriving in a new land.

Eva has left her homeland of Ukraine with nothing more than a few belongings, coming to Canada in search of a new life. Upon arriving, she finds a cold and hard city filled with immigrants from all other corners of the world and spirals into self-sabotage while trying to keep it all together. Written and directed in 25 different languages and cast with all new immigrants; unconventional and quirky, DIASPORA is an emotional and psychological portrait of the loneliness and despair Eva faces in her new homeland while poignantly exploring the importance of language and culture in finding oneself.

Welcome to the North End

Eva smoking outside her workplace — Yuliia Guzhva as Eva

Arriving in Winnipeg’s North End in search of a better, safer life, young Ukrainian immigrant Eva finds a city filled with rundown, outdated establishments and a disproportional number of other, culturally diverse immigrants, all too in search for a new life; each desperately holding onto their own language and culture, creating a neighbourhood of (comedic) miscommunication, growing apathy and oft painful alienation.

In what is quite possibly the most culturally diverse film in history, this deeply resonant portrait of immigrant life has 25 different languages spoken on screen, cast entirely with immigrant Canadians from disparate corners of the world, each speaking in their native tongue. Uniquely, this rich tapestry of immigrant life in DIASPORA is presented without the aid of subtitles; this deliberate choice is a hugely rewarding one, for as depicted in the film, new people to new countries are faced with the harsh reality of needing to communicate in ways other than - spoken language - to understand one another, to survive, to find a sense of purpose and feel a sense of belonging. DIASPORA is unique in many ways, most poignantly however, is how it uses humour, authentic locations, constrained language, impeccable cinematography and a singular, female empowered point of view to present its truly authentic portrayal of the often painful and lonely immigrant experience.

Yuliia Guzhva with crew on location during filming

“It was the most riveting collaboration of my entire career.”
Deco Dawson, Writer, Director, Editor

Yuliia Guzhva is a Canadian actress best known for the role of Eva in Diaspora. Yuliia was born June 1999 in a small town in Ukraine. She grew up with her grandma and grandpa in the village “Chapliyivka,” where she developed a love for art at a very young age. She was 6 years old when she started attending art school and dance classes. Already in primary school, she started traveling around Ukraine for dance competitions and dreamed about becoming a choreographer.

Soon after her parents split, Yuliia moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba with her mother and stepdad. She had to give up dancing and learn English to be able to keep up with school. After high school, she attended university for a short period of time and worked for an investment company. Being an artist her whole life, Yuliia struggled to find her place between office walls. She soon found herself taking an acting class where she heard about the Diaspora audition.

The ability to connect with the character on a personal level landed her the part. She was excited to tell the story of an immigrant trying to build a home in a foreign culture.

After Diaspora Yuliia had the opportunity to travel to India and Colombia for modelling and gain lifelong experiences. She recently had a cameo in the hit film Nobody starring Bob Odenkirk. She has begun working behind the scenes as well, including in the art department of the film Polarized.

Deco Dawson

Writer, Director, Editor

Deco Dawson is a multimedia artist and filmmaker like no other; his 20 unique short films have garnered international awards at festivals worldwide, including two Best Short Film Awards at the Toronto International Film Festival for his films Keep a Modest Head and FILM(dzama) and a Canadian Screen Award nomination.

Deco is known for his oft surreal, highly art-directed, archaic and visually stunning film work, as well as his transcendent, multi-dimensional, mesmerizing projection work in theatre, The New York Times calling his work on Broadway, “jaw dropping”. Having been shortlisted for the Cannes Cine Foundation, Cannes Director’s Fortnight and Critics week, Deco’s singular work is revered by many, and includes collaborations with Guy Maddin, Jim Jarmusch, visual artists Marcel Dzama, Rebecca Belmore, Adam Pendleton, Sarah Anne Johnson and Jean Benoit, the last member of the historic Surrealist movement in Paris.

Equal parts FW Murnau, David Lynch, Ulrich Seidl and Wim Wenders, Deco’s uncompromising style remains in a category all unto its own. Tirelessly pushing boundaries and genres, Deco Dawson’s long-awaited debut feature film DIASPORA unpacks decades of Winnipeg history, perpetual immigrant loneliness and pushes European slow cinema into compelling new directions while displaying the same fearlessness found in his two decades of short film work.

Kyle Irving

Producer

A co-owner, partner, and head of production for Eagle Vision, Kyle has produced more than 280 hours of film and television content over the last 21 years. Recent feature film credits as an executive producer include Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On (which had its world premiere on the opening night of TIFF, 2022); Orphan: First Kill; and Night Raiders.

As a producer, current projects include Deco Dawson's feature Diaspora; and Madison Thomas's feature Finality of Dusk. Other feature film producing credits include the Oscar winner and nominee for Best Picture Capote; We Were Children; Blue State; Walk All Over Me; Reasonable Doubt and Lovesick. TV executive producer credits include the new scripted series Skymed for Paramount +, CBC and CBS Studios; Reclaim(ed), Snapchat’s first original Canadian series; four seasons of the scripted series Burden of Truth for CBC, The CW, Hulu and Universal UK; the iconic international hit factual series Ice Road Truckers for History Channel, AETN, seen in 80+ countries; the hit new comedy series for APTN Lumi DJ Burnt Bannock; and the doc series 7TH GEN for APTN.

Having worked in the Indigenous community with his business partner Lisa Meeches for more than 20 years Irving has a strong focus on championing under-represented talent development and has mentored and supported numerous emerging writers, directors, producers, and crew. He was the National Events Producer of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada from 2010-11 and from 2018-19 the Creative Director and Executive Producer of the #sacredMMIWG campaign and National Closing Event for the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. He is also a strong supporter financially and in-kind to independent films, emerging talent, talent programs and scholarships. Irving was honoured by being named to the Order of Manitoba in 2021, Manitoba's highest honour.

Rebecca Gibson

Producer

As a writer, director, producer, series creator, story editor and actor, Rebecca’s work in documentary, drama, and comedy has played in festivals, in theatres, and on TV screens around the world. Following graduation from the New York Film Academy, a CFTPA International Internship took Rebecca to Los Angeles at the start of her film career.

Formerly a Partner and Head of Development for Eagle Vision, Rebecca continues to work with Eagle Vision to develop several feature and series projects around the world, including her own. With her partners she shared in the 2022 Banff World Media Festival’s Innovative Producer Award. Credits include her ACTRA Award-winning role in The Pinkertons (Netflix); co-writing and producing the award-winning feature H&G; and serving as co-creator, executive producer, showrunner, a writer, and director for four seasons of the series Taken, for which she won a Beyond Borders Media Award and was nominated for three CSAs. Recent projects include the factual series 7TH GEN (co-creator, executive producer, showrunner, writer, director), and the comedy web series DJ Burnt Bannock (executive producer, showrunner, director).

Rebecca is devoted to mentorship, working with the CMPA, ACTRA, WIFT, WIDC, among several other organizations to support equity, diversity, accessibility, and inclusion. Rebecca founded Orange Daisy Project, a social action campaign in support of mental health for teen girls. She was honoured nationally as a CAMH Difference Maker and was ACTRA Manitoba's 2018 Woman of the Year. Recently, Rebecca wrote and directed on and shared show running duties with Dinae Robinson of Snapchat’s first Canadian original series, with Dinae Robinson. She is also producing the soon-to-be-released feature films Diaspora and Finality of Dusk and executive producing the feature doc Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On, and the feature doc True Story for History Channel and Global.