Starting Again—Stories of Refugee Youth

With funding from the Refugee School Impact Grant (RSIG), School’s Out Washington partnered with documentary filmmaker Jill Freidberg of Corrugated Films to produce a film chronicling the lives of refugee youth in Washington State. The film highlights four youth from Burma, Bhutan, Russia, and Somalia. In their own voices, each youth shares stories, experiences, struggles, and successes about life before and after resettling in the United States.  The youth speak candidly about the situations that brought their families here, their initial resettlement experience, and ongoing challenges as their families adjust to life in the United States.  They also discuss their hopes and … [ ]


With funding from the Refugee School Impact Grant (RSIG), School’s Out Washington partnered with documentary filmmaker Jill Freidberg of Corrugated Films to produce a film chronicling the lives of refugee youth in Washington State. The film highlights four youth from Burma, Bhutan, Russia, and Somalia.

In their own voices, each youth shares stories, experiences, struggles, and successes about life before and after resettling in the United States.  The youth speak candidly about the situations that brought their families here, their initial resettlement experience, and ongoing challenges as their families adjust to life in the United States. 

They also discuss their hopes and their excitement about opportunities that have been presented to them.  Youth were filmed at school, home, afterschool activities, and community events.  Youth also contributed footage that they filmed themselves.