I’MPOSSIBLE follows Abdellah, Rachid, Mohamed, Toufik, and Saikou, five men who migrated to Europe in search of better opportunities and now work in the greenhouse industry of Almería, southeast Spain. Through their testimonies, daily routines, and the use of participatory filmmaking, the film explores the link between migrant labour exploitation and the precarious living conditions in informal settlements. Due to their documentation status, exploitative labour, and the absence of housing solutions, many migrants in Almería endure daily struggles: unreliable water and electricity, extreme summer heat, poor waste management, and social marginalization. By placing the camera in the hands of some participants and filming others in close collaboration, I’MPOSSIBLE moves beyond victimization and shows migration as a state rather than an essence.
The film invites viewers to reflect on representational authority and the power relations embedded in migration images, which increased after the so-called “migration/refugee crisis” of 2015. It challenges essentialist portrayals of migrants as an exotic “other” by offering an alternative mode of representation in which the protagonists tell their own story with dignity and agency. The accompanying thesis expands this discussion, analyzing the role of ethnographic film and the benefits of participatory methods in a context of media overexposure.
Bio
Elvira Mora graduated in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Seville and recently specialized in Visual Ethnography through a master’s program at Leiden University. As part of her master’s, she created her first visual ethnographic project, focusing on migration, labour exploitation, and participatory filmmaking in Campos de Níjar, Almería (Spain). Growing up near Níjar, she often witnessed two contrasting worlds within the same landscape: the idyllic image of beaches and nature versus the harsh living and working conditions of migrant labourers. This contrast pushed her, alongside her mother Teresa as her collaborator, to explore the realities faced by migrants working in the agro-industrial sector. Working on this project reinforced her belief that visual ethnography can challenge dominant narratives and create spaces for shared storytelling. Moving forward, she aims to continue developing participatory visual projects that foreground marginalized voices, with a particular focus on migration and gender.
