What Becomes of Us is an experimental documentary observing the quiet complexities of displacement.

This film seeks to position ancestral histories alongside broader narratives of how Britain's post-World War II recruitment schemes incentivised the mass migration of working-class southern Italians to England.

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After WWII, Britain launched bulk recruitment schemes targeting working-class areas around the world to bridge the labour gap in the country. Britain drove formal recruitment schemes between the Ministry of Labour and its Italian counterparts, bringing thousands of Italians from the southern regions of Campania, Sicily, Calabria, Molise, Puglia and Basilicata. The 1950s and 1960s witnessed the first ‘mass’ immigration of Italians where many families moved to escape generational poverty. By the 1970s, mass migration had largely come to an end and after 10-20 years of working in Britain, many post-war migrants fulfilled their goal of returning home. Most returned to their villages and invested their savings in land and small businesses, but for some, despite their intentions they did not manage to return home.

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Since Brexit, EU migration has collapsed and the rise of far-right influence is fuelling an increasingly hostile environment for migrants. While this film explores the movement of southern Italians, I intend for it to speak broadly to all working-class immigrant communities. ​