As I was conducting my MA research project in Mae Sot, a Thai town bordering with Burma, I became familiar with the Rohingya diaspora community. Having a background in Visual Anthropology, I saw the potential to make a documentary there. Since the identity of diasporas has always been unstable, so are those of the Rohingya as well. Just as it is difficult to identify what a diaspora is, the same can be said of the Rohingya and their identity.
In this documentary, even though both Michaels are Rohingya, many of the conditions they face; living conditions, their experience of migration, citizenship, and cultural identity show how different they are. However, a point they hold in common is that they are trying to seek an ‘identity’ that others accept. This documentary aimed to explore Rohingyas livelihood in Mae Sot and to challenge the old mainstream representations of them as either victims or violent actors causing conflict in Burma. The last intention was to broaden knowledge in refugee studies by exploring the identity construction process among Rohingyas themselves.