The idea for this film found me, not the other way around. When I first heard about Victoria and Siaka’s story, I was impressed by their courage and the strength of their solidarity. I was touched by the absoluteness of their love. Love must be like this to prevail.
We followed the couple for one year with the camera. Siaka, a Mandinka from Gambia with a migration story, finally had a secure residence status in Austria. It was the first year in their life together in which they were not constantly fighting bureaucratic and social resistance to stay together. And yet, the shadows of the past mercilessly loomed over their everyday life. Pressure from society and familial expectations from them, in Austria and in Gambia, did not leave their relationship unmarked. My film wants to shine a light on the reality of this life.
Victoria and Siaka are aware of the differences that result from each of their backgrounds. They constantly rearmed themselves to deal with racist prejudices and discrimination. They both initiated the film precisely because they see it – as I do as the director – as a contribution to sensitisation and changing people’s views about dealing with migrants. Examining their life on film allows us to take a new look: at ourselves as members of the white majority in society in the Global North and at the migrants with whom we live.
It is a matter of perceiving differences and, at the same time, underlining what unites them and what they are looking for together.
It was important to me to portray all sides of the protagonists and to show moments of solidarity and affection as well as moments in which they solve conflicts and in which ambivalences or other viewpoints appear. The film wants to show them both as a couple together as well as unique individuals. It is a matter of perceiving differences and, at the same time, underlining what unites them and what they are looking for together. This longing for a better life is behind the film’s title OUR TIME WILL COME. When will relationships like Victoria and Siaka’s be an unquestioned norm?
In the course of the film, the garden in the courtyard of the building where Victoria and Siaka live changes. Siaka cares for it with a neighbour, with whom he became friends during this year. Something grows. I wish for this metaphorical image of growing together and a curious, respectful approaching of one another to have an effect. OUR TIME WILL COME tells an encouraging story. Ultimately, it is a film about two lovers.
Ivette Löcker
