Jeffrey Clair (left) and Jason Wasserman. Download image.

 May 26, 2010

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The new documentary film "American Refugees: Homelessness in Four Movements" by University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Associate Professor of Sociology Jeffrey M. Clair, Ph.D., and UAB alumnus Jason Wasserman, Ph.D., will debut at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 3 at The Speakeasy, 1920 3rd Ave., North in Birmingham. Tickets are $6 and will be sold at the door; proceeds will benefit the Church of the Reconciler and the Firehouse Shelter.

"American Refugees: Homelessness in Four Movements" is a gripping portrait of Birmingham's homeless community that aims to break common stereotypes about those who live on the street. Wasserman and Clair shot the film over a four-year period to examine every aspect of homelessness, from the men and women who live on the city's streets to the failure of public policy and social service programs.

Wasserman, who is now an assistant professor of sociology at Texas Tech University, and Clair, who teaches in the UAB Department of Sociology, began the project as an ethnographic study about the homeless to learn why some homeless people choose to live outdoors instead of in shelters. The project resulted in a book, At Home on the Street: People, Poverty and a Hidden Culture of Homelessness, which they published earlier this year.

"In this film, we are trying to bridge a variety of issues addressed in the book with an artistic presentation that helps convey the emotional depths of homelessness in a way that is difficult with text," said Wasserman. "Like the issue of homelessness itself, the film is chaotic and multidimensional, dark in many respects, but with an underlying hopefulness."

Paralleling the book, the film suggests that many programs meant to help the homeless have instead further alienated them from society through assumptions that most homeless people suffer from mental illness or substance abuse. As a result few social services exist for those who are homeless due to economic hardships or tragedy. The film features poignant interviews with homeless individuals as well as with shelter directors, religious leaders, outreach workers, city officials, law enforcement, sociologists, activists and graffiti artists.

"We hope that researchers, service providers and community leaders who watch the film will see viewpoints that are different than their own, particularly those of the homeless," Wasserman said.

The film is both academic and artistic, with images by photographers such as local artist Melissa Springer. Wasserman and Clair said they eventually plan to submit the documentary to various film festivals and to make it available to people who have read the book and want to organize screenings in their own communities.

"We hope that audiences will begin to think in deeper and broader ways about homelessness," said Clair. "For some people this might mean thinking about homelessness almost for the first time and to become more conscious of it, instead of the quick, canned stereotypical way most people see homelessness."

About the UAB College of Arts and Sciences

The UAB Department of Sociology and Social Work is housed in the UAB College of Arts and Sciences, home to academic disciplines that include the arts, humanities, sciences and the School of Education. The college's unique structure advances research and learning in both K-12 and higher education, and its courses are taught by a world-class faculty. Committed to the UAB spirit of independence and innovation, the college enables students to design their own majors, participate in undergraduate research or complete graduate degrees on a five-year fast track. Through productive partnerships, flexible curricula and a bold, interdisciplinary approach to learning and teaching, the college is preparing students for success in the ever-changing global marketplace of commerce and ideas.