12:00pm PST / 3:00pm EST / 8:00pm GMT
Venue: Zoom (*you must register to get the event link)
“Creating connections for untold stories: video, films and festivals as spaces of memory, identity, meaning and transformation”
A selection of films by 3 talented SOAS alumni filmmakers:
Film festival transformations in viral times: lessons learnt at the 2020 edition of the Tarifa-Tangier African Film Festival (FCAT, Spain), by Federico Olivieri (MA Global Media and Post-National Communication, 2009).
When only blood will do: the rituals of belonging of a Nepali clan, by Saprina Panday (LLB, 2013)
Tune Your Ears, A film about colonial brainwashing, trauma, and lineage, by Rebecca Dharmapalan (MA Human Rights Law, 2020)
*You must RSVP by registering HERE in order to obtain the event link, which we will email to you in advance of the event.
FILM 1:
When only blood will do: the rituals of belonging of a Nepali clan
Saprina Panday (LLB Law, 2013)
(WARNING: Graphic and Sensitive Content including Animal Sacrifice) Once every 12 years, in what looks like the very heart of Nepal, a proud clan reunites on a hill to dance, to sing, to remember its ancestors. Hundreds of people travel hundreds of kilometers in cramped minivans and cars, squished and sweating against their wives, their crying babies, their husbands, brothers, sisters, and tangled relatives while dohori [Nepali folk music] and lusty Bollywood songs blast on the radio, covering the sound of screeching tires on potholed roads. On the slippery rooftop, a frail goat struggles to stand, a noose at its throat, its legs trembling. It makes no sound. I feel its terror. And I weep. I'm terrified of what these strangers are about to do to it. These hundreds of strangers who greet me with open trust, seeing me as one of them. My clan, by birth. And yet, I have never felt more foreign, more certain that I don't belong here.
FILM 2:
Tune Your Ears (2017). A film about colonial brainwashing, trauma, and lineage.
Rebecca Dharmapalan (MA Human Rights Law, 2020)
Looking into the themes of migration, civil war, genocide and freedom, Dharmapalan explores the various tensions involved in the creation of identity. Through the tradition of oral histories, Dharmapalan believes that nuanced tone can be best articulated. From Tanzania, to Goa, to Ceylon, to the United States, Dharmapalan's grandparents explore their stories of struggle, of assimilation, and their attempt to define themselves. This film teaches us how to look beyond academic text, to instead value ancestral conversation and intergenerational listening
FILM 3
Film festival transformations in viral times: lessons learnt at the 2020 edition of the Tarifa-Tangier African Film Festival (FCAT, Spain)
Federico Olivieri (MA Global Media and Post-National Communication, 2009)
In 2020, film festivals all over the world have been forced to redefine their format into hybrid and virtual events due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This short documentary project explores some of these disruptions, as well as the experiences gathered by the author at the 2020 edition of the Tarifa-Tangier African Film Festival (Spain - Morocco).
FILMMAKER BIOS
Saprina Panday (LLB Law, 2013)
Growing up as the daughter of an international civil servant for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Saprina Panday is a writer, multimedia storyteller and investigative journalist from Nepal who has lived in over 17 countries, from Somalia to Iran, Syria to Russia. This unique experience informs her thirty-year-long exploration of the concept of identity and home and what it means to belong. Her work has been published in Scroll India, Global Voices, the Kathmandu Post, the Record Nepal and France 24 while her first dramedy pilot completed in 2019 won nominations at film festivals in London, Seoul and Berlin, attracting the interest of Netflix India. Saprina has a law degree from SOAS, a BA in politics from the University of Virginia and an international diploma in political science from Sciences Po Paris.
Rebecca Dharmapalan (MA Human Rights Law, 2020)
Rebecca Dharmapalan is a filmmaker, legal scholar, and activist. Dharmapalan is based in NYC, Oakland, and London. Her passion lies in human rights and justice for underrepresented and marginalised groups. From her TEDxTalk discussing the epidemic of child sex trafficking in the United States, to speaking up when voices systemically silenced, Dharmapalan's dedication to uplifting those around her speaks truth to her dedication to her community. Dharmapalan is Glamour’s College Woman of the Year 2017, awarded Teen Vogue's 21 Under 21, and an OZY Genius Award winner 2018. She recently completed her MA of Human Rights Law at SOAS University of London, and her BA in Sociology at University of California Berkeley. Dharmapalan is currently producing her first feature length film on the Tamil Eelam diaspora that focuses on memory, trauma, & motherland.
Federico Olivieri (MA Global Media and Post-National Communication, 2009)
Federico Olivieri is a journalist, cultural manager and independent researcher whose work focuses on media, communications and the arts for social change. In 2007 he obtained a BA in Journalism from the University of Seville (Spain), followed by an MA in Global Media and Post-National Communication from SOAS University of London. After years of work for Spain’s development agency (AECID) and with different cultural non-profits in Kenya, Spain, Senegal, South Africa and the USA, in 2016 Olivieri completed a PhD in Communication and Cultural Studies at the University Pablo de Olavide (Spain). His thesis explored the history of Sub-Saharan African cinemas and the meaning of Interculturality at film festivals. He co-founded the Slum Film Festival (Kenya) and he is a member of the Tarifa-Tangier African Film Festival (FCAT, Spain - Morocco) since its founding in 2004.