“The Emigrant Queer Lovebirds” is a documentary-fiction centered on interviews with four queer immigrants from Central Asia who narrate their romantic experiences and
ideas of love during various stages of immigration to Canada. These interviews are woven together with the fictional story of a queer character, played by myself, who
encounters opportunities and challenges while pursuing love in their newly settled home. This film explores the stories of queer immigrants who leave behind their families
and hometowns in order to seek love and acceptance, only to find frustration and rejection in their chosen destination. At the same time, online dating has become so ubiquitous that absence from these platforms can mean missed opportunities to meet significant others, or the lack of any love life altogether. By exposing stories that are often overlooked or misrepresented in mainstream Canadian media, I hope to offer a more complex portrayal of queer immigrants.