Hot Docs 2008

North of Dublin, on the beautiful Irish seaside, lies a bizarre-looking collection of rusting fairground rides and grey cement buildings with brightly painted doors. The compound, called Mosney, opened in 1948 as a summer holiday camp, a place where Irish families would escape the daily grind for a week in order to relax, dance, eat fish 'n' chips and enjoy the salty fresh air. A visit to Mosney today presents a radically different picture, but still a picture of escape. This former holiday camp is now a camp of another kind, a holding centre for asylum seekers from all corners of the globe. Here the residents wait years for the results of their asylum claims. Seaview's amusement-park setting and contemplative camera-work underscores the emotional state of its desperate inhabitants. To them, Mosney is limbo. Seaview is a poignant portrayal of the modern immigrant experience.
-Shannon Abel