Gentry Faith Wilson’s short documentary has its world premiere in New York this Sunday, and makes festival history along the way.
What gives a life purpose after years of waiting?
That question sits at the heart of RAISED, a 13-minute documentary directed by GentryFaith Wilson, which has its world premiere at the Chelsea Film Festival in New York onSunday 18 October. It also marks a milestone for the festival, now in its 14th edition:RAISED is the first Ugandan film ever presented there.
A life on hold
RAISED follows Julien, who lives in prolonged displacement in Africa’s oldest refugee camp. For people in his situation, waiting is not a pause between chapters. It can become the shape of life itself, measured in years rather than weeks, with plans deferred and the future decided somewhere else.
The film arrives at a moment when global aid is under growing strain. The systems built to support displaced communities are being stretched thinner, and the people living inside them are the first to feel it.
Against that backdrop, Julien finds his purpose again through chess. What begins as a personal anchor grows into something larger: he goes on to inspire a movement of young leaders around him.
Why chess
The choice feels fitting. Chess is a game of patience, foresight and agency. On the board, every decision is yours and every move counts. For someone whose life has long been shaped by forces beyond their control, that small square of certainty can mean a greatdeal, and sharing it with others can turn a private refuge into a shared purpose.
What we carry
RAISED screens in Programme #16, titled What We Carry, and the title suits it. This is a story about what people carry, and what they build, when the systems meant to support them fall short. Rather than framing displacement only as loss, it turns attention to resilience, community and the quiet work of building something from very little.
Why it matters to us
At The Thinking Watermill Society, our work starts from one conviction: change is not something that simply happens to society. It is something we need to understand, so we can see its impact clearly and decide how to respond. Climate, human rights, contemporary culture, the way resources are managed: each of these is shifting, and each shift reaches people’s lives long before it reaches the headlines.
The strain on global aid is one of those changes. On paper it shows up as budgets, cuts and policy decisions. In a refugee camp it shows up as fewer services, longer waits and a future that feels even further away. Statistics can tell us how much support is disappearing; they rarely tell us what that loss means to the people living through it, or what they do next.
Aid is only part of the picture. Protecting refugees is first a responsibility of states, and one the international community has agreed should be shared, not left to the countries closest to a crisis. The policies governments choose can make a real difference: Uganda, one of the world’s largest refugee-hosting countries, is often cited for giving refugees land, freedom of movement and the right to work.
That is why stories like RAISED matter to us. Film lets us see change at a human scale.Julien’s story doesn’t only show what is missing when systems fall short. It shows a response: a person who finds purpose, and a community of young leaders that grows around him. Understanding the impact of change means looking at both sides, what is lost and what people build in its place. And responding well starts with listening to those who are already responding, often with very little.
There is a personal side too. A number of our readers and collaborators are based in EastAfrica, including Uganda, which makes this premiere feel especially close to home. Seeing a Ugandan story reach a New York festival screen for the first time is worth celebrating inits own right.
See it
RAISED, directed by Gentry Faith Wilson
- When: Sunday 18 October 2026, 11:00 AM (ET)
- Where: Regal Battery Park, 102 N End Ave, New York
- Programme: #16, What We Carry
- More: chelseafilm.org/raised
Over to you
When aid falls away, what do you think communities like Julien’s need most? We’d love to hear your thoughts.
