‘Where Have All The Smiles Gone’, a new documentary from Brussels director Anja Strelec deals with Nepali migrant workers in the Middle East

As the the FIFA World Cup in Qatar is in full swing, people all over the world gather to watch the matches and celebrate the winning teams. However, this year’s World Cup has also a sinister side to it. According to Nepal’s Foreign Employment Board, 1700 Nepali migrant workers died in preparation of the FIFA World Cup in Qatar 2022 due to bad working conditions. And for the same reason, many more die every day around the world. 

A very important documentary is to be released in 2023 – the film Where Have All The Smiles Gone by director Anja Strelec is about Nepali migrant workers who, in search for a better life, go to work to abroad, mostly in the countries in the Middle East, but are unfortunately often exploited and abused. Often, they come back home either sick or dead.

This is just one of the heart wrenching scenarios of more than a million Nepalis who work in the Middle Eastern countries that exploit the migrants for cheap labour and excessive manpower. Their dream of a better life is being shattered as they are being deprived of their human rights. The domestic economy of Nepal is heavily controlled by remittance but instead of economic prosperity the immigrants are coming back to Nepal in coffins because of bad working conditions. 

Where Have All The Smiles Gone is a documentary that took 5 years to bring to you a heartfelt journey of the Nepali migrants who leave their home in search of a better future without having any inclination of what hardships lie ahead for them. The film is directed by Belgium based Croatian filmmaker Anja Strelec in collaboration with Mountain River Films, a Nepal based production house. The producers are Deepa Dharel, Chandra K Jha and a well known Icelandic producer Erlingur Jack and co-produced by Giuseppe Savino. 

The film will be released beginning of 2023. Watch the trailer here below or on vimeo.

Please feel free to get in touch with the director Anja Strelec for any additional information and questions via info@anja-strelec.com