The Alien Chronicles Special: My Immigrant Journey will air at 6 p.m. during Director's Choice on Saturday, June 29th.
This one-hour documentary features excerpts from three interviews that capture the essence of immigrant experiences in the US. Each interviewee talks about their immegrant experience from a different vantage point.
From the host, Saadia Khan:
"With a hot-button issue like immigration, it can be challenging to make generalizations without either seeming to aggrandize or vilify the many, diverse populations involved. And yet, one can find significant commonalities among different immigrant communities— from the immense sacrifices they’ve endured to their willingness to withstand great discomfort and change. Even as they negotiate the complex customs of their new home, they remain inextricably linked to places that, in many cases, they cannot return to. To paraphrase one of my recent guests, 'our hearts belong in more than one place.'
When I departed my birthplace of Lahore, Pakistan, I left behind family, friends, and the broader community in which I had been raised. Suddenly, everything was foreign. My struggles— adapting to unfamiliar foods or the enigmatic practices of those living around me— felt deeply personal. And yet, I would come to realize that my experiences were not unique. There were many people whose struggles mirrored my own, and I found I could identify with those whose travels began thousands of miles away from my own.
And so, in creating “The Alien Chronicles,” I wanted to provide the broader immigrant community with a platform to tell their stories and promote the particular issues that concerned them. In doing so, I hope we can dispel some of the myths surrounding immigrants and counter them with stories of hope, strength, and resilience. In this program, I will talk to a podcaster, a comedian and an LGBTQ advocate."
You can learn more about the series and listen to more of the content here.