Documentary backdrop image for Blue Distance (2021)

Documentary backdrop image for Blue Distance (2021)

20217 minGdoc-short

Migration Colonialism

Blue Distance

20217 minGdoc-short

Seven minutes capture a personal and poetic intervention into a familial immigration story, addressing memory and the reality of occupying stolen land.

Migration Colonialism

Genres

Director

Devin Jie Allen

Synopsis

Seven minutes capture a personal and poetic intervention into a familial immigration story, addressing memory and the reality of occupying stolen land.

People

Devin Jie Allen

Devin Jie Allendirector

Synopsis

A personal narrative unfolds in Blue Distance, released in 2021. The seven-minute film addresses the filmmaker's immigration story and intertwines it with themes of memory and history. It reflects on the challenges of securing identity while acknowledging the context of occupying land obtained through colonization. The film uses cinematic techniques to connect personal experience with broader cultural narratives.

Comments

What are people saying?

Play More Like This

Convert Or Burn: The Brutal Reality Of The Spanish Inquisition (2020)

Convert Or Burn: The Brutal Reality Of The Spanish Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition, initiated by Catholic Monarchs Fernando and Isabel, targeted Conversos in a brutal campaign against perceived heresy and treachery.

Convert Or Burn: The Brutal Reality Of The Spanish Inquisition

1815: The Battle Of New Orleans (2023)

1815: The Battle Of New Orleans

In January 1815, American forces under Andrew Jackson killed or wounded more than 2,000 British soldiers in just 30 minutes during the Battle of New Orleans.

1815: The Battle Of New Orleans

Faces of colonialism: the story of an imperialist propaganda (2023)

Faces of colonialism: the story of an imperialist propaganda

Robert Lohmeyer took the first color photographs of Africa between 1907 and 1909, documenting German colonies and shaping European perceptions of the continent.

Faces of colonialism: the story of an imperialist propaganda

Alexander The Great: The Myth Of The Legendary Macedonian Hero (2023)

Alexander The Great: The Myth Of The Legendary Macedonian Hero

Alexander the Great's conquests from Macedonia to India are examined, highlighting his complex legacy as a hero, prophet, and myth across various cultures.

Alexander The Great: The Myth Of The Legendary Macedonian Hero

Lost City of the Monkey God // Ancient America Documentary (2020)

Lost City of the Monkey God // Ancient America Documentary

32,000 square miles of rainforest in eastern Honduras, known as Mosquitia, remain largely unexplored and may hold secrets of ancient civilizations.

Lost City of the Monkey God // Ancient America Documentary

Guy Fawkes' Role In A Failed Assassination (2020)

Guy Fawkes' Role In A Failed Assassination

In early 17th century England, persecuted Catholics, led by Guy Fawkes and other disillusioned elites, plotted to assassinate King James I in a failed attempt to resist oppression.

Guy Fawkes' Role In A Failed Assassination

Lord Errol Murder Mystery - Royal Murder Mysteries (2023)

Lord Errol Murder Mystery - Royal Murder Mysteries

The murder of Lord Errol, the 22nd Earl of Errol, in Kenya's Happy Valley reveals the scandalous secrets of British aristocracy during the colonial era.

Lord Errol Murder Mystery - Royal Murder Mysteries

How the British Empire Shaped Apartheid (2025)

How the British Empire Shaped Apartheid

British colonial policies and military actions in South Africa, including the Zulu Wars and the Boer War, laid the groundwork for the apartheid system.

How the British Empire Shaped Apartheid

Foster Child (2021)

Foster Child

2021•43m•★5.0TMDB

At age two, Gil Cardinal was placed in a non-Indigenous foster home, where he remained until adulthood while searching for his biological family.

Early Settlers Fight For Freedom (2023)

Early Settlers Fight For Freedom

Seven of the early adventurers out of every ten will be dead within a year as they struggle to survive in the harsh conditions of early America.

Early Settlers Fight For Freedom

How Hitler Radicalized Germany (2024)

How Hitler Radicalized Germany

Adolf Hitler, blinded in a mustard gas attack during World War I, later led Germany into a devastating conflict that resulted in millions of deaths.

How Hitler Radicalized Germany

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance (2011)

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance

2011•1h59m•★7.5TMDB

In July 1992, all but three defendants in the Oka trial were acquitted, with the federal and provincial governments incurring costs exceeding $155 million.

Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance

Explore Blue Distance

Where else to watch

The Blue House (2020)

The Blue House

2020•55m•★7.0TMDB

A nomadic artist in the Jungle of Calais uses his art to leave traces of existence in a makeshift refugee camp marked by desolation and detention.

Africa, I Will Fleece You (1992)

Africa, I Will Fleece You

1992•1h28m•★6.1TMDB

A 1990 open letter to President Paul Biya demanding a national conference leads to the immediate arrest of its author and publisher in Cameroon.

Africa, I Will Fleece You

King Leopold's Ghost (2006)

King Leopold's Ghost

2006•1h42m•★8.0TMDB

Over 10 million Congolese people suffered under the brutal rule of King Leopold II of Belgium from 1885 to 1908 as he exploited the region's resources.

King Leopold's Ghost

France Is Our Mother Country (2015)

France Is Our Mother Country

2015•1h15m•★6.7TMDB

Archival footage and title cards illustrate French colonialism in Indochina, detailing cultural exchanges and the resulting impacts on the region.

France Is Our Mother Country

Hudson Bay(bies) (2025)

Hudson Bay(bies)

2025•52m•★7.0TMDB

Children born from unions between Indigenous women and Hudson's Bay Company employees, known as 'Hudson Baybies,' share their personal stories in Northern Canada.

Hudson Bay(bies)

Death and the Devil (2009)

Death and the Devil

2009•56m•★5.0TMDB

Count Eric von Rosen's colonial activities in early 20th-century Africa are examined through interviews and historical analysis by Peter Nestler.

Death and the Devil

African Mirror (2019)

African Mirror

2019•1h24m•★6.5TMDB

René Gardi's colonialist perspectives shaped 1950s perceptions of Africa, and archival materials in this film critically assess their ongoing impact on contemporary views of the continent.

Browse more like this

Convert Or Burn: The Brutal Reality Of The Spanish Inquisition (2020)

Convert Or Burn: The Brutal Reality Of The Spanish Inquisition

The Spanish Inquisition, initiated by Catholic Monarchs Fernando and Isabel, targeted Conversos in a brutal campaign against perceived heresy and treachery.

Convert Or Burn: The Brutal Reality Of The Spanish Inquisition

No digital watch option in your country

1815: The Battle Of New Orleans (2023)

1815: The Battle Of New Orleans

In January 1815, American forces under Andrew Jackson killed or wounded more than 2,000 British soldiers in just 30 minutes during the Battle of New Orleans.

1815: The Battle Of New Orleans

No digital watch option in your country

Alexander The Great: The Myth Of The Legendary Macedonian Hero (2023)

Alexander The Great: The Myth Of The Legendary Macedonian Hero

Alexander the Great's conquests from Macedonia to India are examined, highlighting his complex legacy as a hero, prophet, and myth across various cultures.

Alexander The Great: The Myth Of The Legendary Macedonian Hero

No digital watch option in your country

Guy Fawkes' Role In A Failed Assassination (2020)

Guy Fawkes' Role In A Failed Assassination

In early 17th century England, persecuted Catholics, led by Guy Fawkes and other disillusioned elites, plotted to assassinate King James I in a failed attempt to resist oppression.

Guy Fawkes' Role In A Failed Assassination

No digital watch option in your country

Lord Errol Murder Mystery - Royal Murder Mysteries (2023)

Lord Errol Murder Mystery - Royal Murder Mysteries

The murder of Lord Errol, the 22nd Earl of Errol, in Kenya's Happy Valley reveals the scandalous secrets of British aristocracy during the colonial era.

Lord Errol Murder Mystery - Royal Murder Mysteries

No digital watch option in your country

How the British Empire Shaped Apartheid (2025)

How the British Empire Shaped Apartheid

British colonial policies and military actions in South Africa, including the Zulu Wars and the Boer War, laid the groundwork for the apartheid system.

How the British Empire Shaped Apartheid

No digital watch option in your country

Early Settlers Fight For Freedom (2023)

Early Settlers Fight For Freedom

Seven of the early adventurers out of every ten will be dead within a year as they struggle to survive in the harsh conditions of early America.

Early Settlers Fight For Freedom

No digital watch option in your country

A Provincial Town (2017)

A Provincial Town

2017•1h28m•★5.0TMDB

Colón, a town two hours north of Buenos Aires, presents vignettes of its residents' daily lives and interactions.

A Provincial Town

Indisch Zwijgen (2022)

Indisch Zwijgen

2022•32m•★7.0TMDB

Three young artists confront the silence surrounding their family histories linked to the Dutch East Indies in a 32-minute documentary.

Indisch Zwijgen

Cabralista (2011)

Cabralista

2011•52m•★4.0TMDB

Amilcar Cabral's leadership and theories in the independence movements of Guinea-Bissau and Cape Verde are examined through archival footage and interviews.

Mapping Lessons (2020)

Mapping Lessons

2020•1h1m•★8.0TMDB

K.'s return to Greater Syria after the collapse of the Ottoman Empire intertwines personal diary entries with historical context and critiques of neo-colonialism.

Mapping Lessons

Hawaii's Last Queen (1997)

Hawaii's Last Queen

1997•52m•★7.0TMDB

A gunpoint ouster marked the end of Queen Liliuokalani's reign as Hawaii faced political upheaval and economic decline in the 1890s.

Hawaii's Last Queen

Browse more by Devin Jie Allen

View all films →

Encounters in Light (2020)

Encounters in Light

2020

Is this your film?

If you made this film or hold the rights to it, we'd like to talk. We can license it and pay you a share of what it earns.

License it with us →