Logo
Documentary · United Stateless

Citizens of Nowhere

Director

Alicia Sully

Type

Documentary

Release

2023

Partner

United Stateless

About

An award-winning documentary following Millennials in the US living without legal nationality; no passport, no citizenship, no rights.

Citizens of Nowhere follows a group of Millennials in the United States who discover they have no legal nationality; no passport, no citizenship, no country to call their own. Directed by Emmy-nominated cinematographer Alicia Sully, the film is an intimate, cinéma vérité journey into the lives of those made invisible by the system, and the community of belonging they find in each other.

A stateless person is someone who, because of circumstance or technicality, doesn't have a nationality: no passport, a lifetime of complications, bureaucratic headaches, and harassment from a government that has no official box for them. It makes getting a job, going to university, or starting a family nearly impossible, and there is often no clear path to citizenship anywhere. For their entire lives, they are literally citizens of nowhere. United Stateless is the organization working to change that.

A young woman's side profile traced in a glowing amber rotoscope outline, standing on a rooftop at dusk with a lit office building glowing behind her.
A man in a black cap and glasses looks off to the side outdoors, torn white paper shapes animated over the image like scattered documents.
A woman in a black Puma bucket hat smiles warmly in front of a chain-link fence, a thin orange line tracing across the frame.
Close-up of a hand brushing gold leaf onto a textured painted surface, a thin purple line animated across the frame.

Credits

Directed, shot & edited
Alicia Sully
Produced by
Sebastian Lindström, Joanne Kelsey, Riham Ezzaldeen
Additional cinematography
Sebastian Lindström, Chris Kousouros
Colorist
Camilla Liljestrand
Illustrator
Noel Keserwany
Animator
Peter Aoun

This project has been a labor of love for everyone involved. Over years of production, we captured the stories of each United Stateless member, reshaping the film as people's situations changed. It started with Karina, USL's director and a stateless person herself, the powerhouse behind the historic progress USL is making toward a law protecting stateless people in the US. After her story, Karina connected us to the rest of the community, whom we met across the country. Once filming wrapped, we edited the film and campaign materials for USL's fight for recognition in Congress.

A woman with a beaded necklace speaks and gestures mid-interview in an office, traced with a glowing lavender outline.
A young woman stands in a crowded Times Square at dusk, looking up past the billboards and city lights.
The Citizens of Nowhere title card: the film's name over a glowing American flag billboard in Times Square, a woman walking past in the foreground, framed by rows of festival selection laurels.

Awards & Selections

Best Documentary Short, Chicago Motion Pictures Awards (2023)
Best Documentary Short & Best Social Justice Short, Shortie Film Festival, New York (2024)
YoFiFest, The Yonkers Film Festival (2023) · Jackson Doc Fest (2023) · Red Rose Film Festival (2023) · ETHOS Film Awards (2023) · Ocean City Film Festival (2023) · North Dakota Human Rights Film Festival (2023) · REEL East Texas Film Festival (2023) · Aphrodite Film Awards (2023) · UNAF
Next

A Smallholder's Voice

UNEP

Have an idea?Get in touch.

We exist on 5 continents with bases in New York, Barcelona, Stockholm, Baltimore, Beirut, Berlin, Buenos Aires, Nairobi, and Iceland.

For Inquiries, job applications, internships info@whattookyousolong.org

Vimeo, LinkedIn, Instagram
Privacy policy & terms of service