We’re hosting a screening of the short film “NO RELEASE” (2025, 15 min) on the use of surveillance and crime-control technologies in migration. Written and directed by Sînziana Cojocărescu and based on research by Dr Monish Bhatia. Monish and Sînziana will both be present for a discussion after the screening.
@Plantagedok, Amsterdam – Wednesday 8 July, 20:00- 21:30h – More information on speakers and fundraiser to follow!
With increased tech-driven surveillance in law enforcement and at the EU border, criminalisation of migration, and a growing violent, racist and xenophobic movement in the Netherlands, we hope to facilitate connections between organisers, researchers, and activists working on migration justice in the UK and Dutch context.
Film blurb:
After their release from prison, two migrant men are confronted with a new form of punishment: constant surveillance through GPS ankle monitors, imposed by the UK immigration system. The film is an adaptation of research and interviews conducted by Dr Monish Bhatia as part of the project Immigration, location tracking and control, funded by a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship.
No Release uncovers the long-term impacts of state control on the body, mind, and identity — from mandatory sign-ins, curfews and exclusions, to the psychological toll of being on a tag, subjected to 24/7 monitoring with no upper limit on time, and treated like a criminal long after the sentence has been served. The film also exposes the enduring fear of deportation, the erosion of dignity, and the violence of a system that punishes without end.
The film is an act of solidarity with those targeted by intersecting systems of immigration control and criminal justice, revealing how poverty, displacement, and lack of citizenship, along with gender and racialisation of risk, add to the bitterly punitive treatment of migrants. No Release lays bare the machinery of surveillance and exclusion that inflicts suffering and makes rebuilding life nearly impossible.