In the late 1980s, the Soviet floodgates of emigration were thrown open by perestroika,. However, for thousands of Soviet Jewish émigrés, hopes of a quick arrival in America were shattered when the United States immigration service started denying these people refugee status while they were in transit in Italy.
Stateless captures this untold story from the points of view of the immigrants themselves a well as from the organizations such as HIAS, JOINT and NYANA that helped these people along the way to finally answer “why were so many people denied?”
More about the film and upcoming screenings http://www.stateless.us/
Film Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcZQ4WPpAr4
Fellows
Michael Drob Stateless Michael Drob was born in Riga, Latvia in 1978 and arrived in New York as refuseniks in 1988. Raised to become a professional violinist by his musician father and economist mother, he instead today works as a software engineer at Audible.com. He lives with wife and children, and runs a family business on the side, Story Tailors, a video production company.
