Helen and Kara met at Columbia College Chicago in 2006. They bonded in their shared love of adventure, experiencing new things, and meeting new people. In 2007, they lost contact with one another, until reuniting in early 2010. At that time, Helen was in her final semester of college and had plans to travel to Eritrea, her country of origin, shortly after graduation. Newly reunited with Helen, Kara boldly decided to join the adventure and travel to Eritrea as well. Both women had both gone through significant heartbreak before their reunion and found that to be very pivotal in their decision to begin a new journey together and document what they were experiencing in a very vulnerable time. With the intention to record and shoot a film on human connection, they had no idea of the enormous impact their visit to Africa would have on their lives. Their journey took them to places beyond borders and deep within themselves where they confronted fears, critically analyzed constructs of civilization, nationality and identity, and courageously embraced love and life.

Helen Gebregiorgis

Helen is an Eritrean-American researcher and visual storyteller, with a passion for Africa and human connection. She has worked on a number of short independent films, conducted videography, and photography for various events and has travelled and documented throughout Eritrea, Egypt, and Kenya.

In addition to her passion for film and photography, Helen has also undertaken research on Eritrean migration and presented her work at the ‘International Conference on Eritrean Studies’ in Asmara, Eritrea, the ‘HESPI Conference on IGAD Economies’ in Khartoum, Sudan, and was invited to the Regional Consultative Meeting of the Global Compact on Migration at the United Nations Conference Centre in Addis Ababa in 2017. Helen Gebregiorgis holds a Masters Degree in Media and International Development from the University of East Anglia, in the United Kingdom and a Bachelor of Arts in Film from Columbia College, in the United States.  

Kara Wackrow

Kara is an American storyteller who uses film and music as mediums.  She has worked on several short documentaries and experimental films.  Focal points of her work are; oppression, mythology, womanhood, culture, division, freedom, and the elders.  Through her work she explores the story of the human experience.  By driving her own questions, she opens the platform for others to question themselves and the world they see around them.  Through the use of abstract and poetic styles, she uses raw imagery and sound to develop her stories.  Kara aims to create material that transcends and transforms the lives of everyone involved, throughout the entire creation process. 

Kara graduated from Columbia College in 2017 with a BA in Cinematic Arts and Sciences.