Rite of Passage (2017)

Rite of Passage is a deeply personal, poetic and political film inspired by Patrick Keiller that blends the essayistic and first-person film modes to create a non-fiction transposition of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. Charlie's journey to and perambulation of Gatwick resembles a 'psychogeographic' interrogation of the airport within the landscape as the site of two G4S-run Immigration Removal Centres. Avoiding unhelpful media representations of undocumented migrants that further subjugates their social status as 'other' to the white westerner, the metaphorical journey within Rite of Passage deftly reverses subjective representation, placing the semi-fictional protagonist, son of a former high-ranking G4S exec, within the mindset of the detainee awaiting deportation.