Q. Tell us about the documentary?
A. I Am Not Here is the story of migrant domestic workers, who leave their countries in search of security and to provide financial assistance to their families back home. Migrants today undergo perilous journeys, risking death, deportation and arrest, physical and sexual violence in the hope of finding a life with dignity. Particularly when they are undocumented, they live in the shadows, afraid to complain and are denied rights and services that we take for granted. This is a film about three remarkable women and their search for a better future. The UN offered me the subject. They chose Switzerland, US, and after a lot of back and forth we ended up choosing Malaysia. We shot for three days in each city; the research, however, took over a year. It had a premiere in Geneva and later opened in Bangkok as well. Post this screening, it will travel to all film festivals.

A still from I Am Not Here