An award winning Greek American filmmaker has turned to his own family’s past as a source of inspiration for shooting a new film called ‘No Human is Illegal.”
Richard Ledes and his film crew traveled to the Greek island of Lesvos to make a film about the biggest refugee crisis the world has experiences since World War II, with Greece as the main point of entry for over a million people fleeing war and violence in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.
Ledes, whose films have shown in festivals throughout the world, even winning the Made in New York Award at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2008, has turned to Indiegogo to raise the necessary funds to finish his film. To date almost 80 people have contributed more than $13,000 to his efforts.
His film aims to share the story of the refugees— the human stories of people he calls “no different than fellow New Yorkers,” who have been forced to flee their homes as a result of a war they had nothing to do with.
Ledes’ father’s family were Greeks living in Turkey that were forced to flee in 1923.
Most of the refugees Ledes interviewed are still detained on the island of Lesvos but one family did get off the island and were lucky enough to be part of the delegation that Pope Francis took to Rome to help resettle.