VISION EARTH: PEOPLES AND THEIR PLACES
FILM EVENING WITH DISCUSSION
19:00 • EN/DE
Grüner Salon
Click here for tickets
Climate change and supposed social progress are destroying peoples and their cultures worldwide: Indigenous people in northern Pakistan have been forced to leave their villages by natural disasters. Romani Travellers in Britain, on the other hand, are being prevented from pursuing their traditional nomadic way of life by the elimination of their old occupations and the criminalisation of stopping. The traditionally nomadic indigenous peoples of Mongolia and Siberia are also gradually losing the opportunity to continue their culture - although by recognising nature as a living and animated community and by extending social awareness not only to humanity but also to the environment, they could be a model for a viable, environmentally conscious society.
The film screenings will be followed by a discussion on the topic of the cinematic representation of the consequences of environmental racism and the destruction of traditional places and ways of life, as well as on the visions for the future of the earth that film art can capture.
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The Sky is Far, the Earth is Tough
By Haya Fatima Iqbal
Pakistan 2021, 33 minutes
How are climate change and natural disasters affecting northern Pakistan? What’s the impact on the health and mental well-being of mountain communities? Eco anxiety, eco grief, and anxiety, post traumatic stress, depression and suicides heavily impact the people of Ghizer, Gilgit Baltistan, in the backdrop of environmental and climate disasters. A young mother, a blind elderly poet, and a first aid worker open up to the camera.
The film is part of a film series produced by filmmakers from Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and India as a joint initiative by Aga Khan University, Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, Aga Khan Foundation and University of Central Asia.
Director, Producer & Cinematographer: Haya Fatima Iqbal
Haya Fatima Iqbal is an Academy and two-time Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker. She directs, produces, and shoots films across Pakistan. Haya is an Acumen fellow and a Fulbright scholar. She holds a Masters in News & Documentary from New York University. She teaches journalism. She also trains people in storytelling, filmmaking and journalism in Pakistan and abroad. Haya is the Co-Founder of Documentary Association of Pakistan (DAP), an initiative to promote the culture of documentary watching in public spaces all over Pakistan.
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The Fourfold
By Alisi Telengut
Canada 2020, 8 minutes
Based on the ancient animistic beliefs and shamanic rituals in Mongolia and Siberia, the short animated film explores the indigenous worldview and wisdom. With hand-painted imagery, it is a reclaim of the ideas of animism for planetary health and non-human materialities.
Alisi Telengut is a Canadian artist of Mongolian origin, living and working in Berlin. She is a Canadian Screen Award nominee and the Québec Cinéma Award – Prix Iris winner in Best Animated Film. Her work received multiple international awards and nominations, including Best Short Film at Stockholm Film Festival (Sweden), Best Animated Film at the Brussel Independent Film Festival (Belgium), Jury Award at the Aspen Shortsfest (USA). Alisi’s work has been screenedand exhibited internationally, such as at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (USA), Sundance Film Festival (USA), TIFF (Canada), the Canadian Cultural Centre at the Embassy of Canada in France, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (South Korea), UNESCO World Heritage Site Zollverein (Germany), among others. Her work has not only been presented as animation and moving image artworks with the unique visual style, but have also contributed to ethnographic and ethnocultural research.
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Sqrauks
By Lisa Smith
UK 2023, 7 minutes
74-year-old Romani grandmother Margaret Smith was once one of the many nomadic workers who provided intensive cheap labour that allowed the agriculcultural industry in Wales to thrive. However, seasonal travelling patterns and work became disrupted by capitalism, ancient family stopping places bouldered and gentrified and today her cultural practice of nomadism is criminalised by the state. Sqrauks is the Anglo-Romani word for potatoes, but what symbolism does this vegetable represent to her and what role does it continue to play in Margaret’s life?
Lisa Smith is co-curator of the International Festival of Romani Film AKE DIKHEA?. Her latest works as a Creative producer include eight animated short documentaries films (2022) based on the lives of Holocaust victims and survivors of the National Socialist crimes against the European Sinti and Roma. The films are part of a new open-air exhibition at the memorial site in the Tiergarten launched in Febuary 2023. She has also worked on a number of drama and documentary-based shorts for NGO and media organisations and has a Masters in Inclusive Education. She is chair of ACERT (The Advisory Council for the Education of Romani & other Travellers) providing advice and consultation to the Department for Education. She worked as a journalist and Editor at Travellers’ Times, a national magazine aimed at creating a counter narrative to dominant media representation of Roma and Traveller communities in the UK from 2015 – 2021.
The film screenings will be followed by a discussion on the topic of the cinematic representation of the consequences of environmental racism and the destruction of traditional places and ways of life, as well as on the visions for the future of the earth that film art can capture.
The Sky is Far, the Earth is Tough
By Haya Fatima Iqbal
Pakistan 2021, 33 minutes
How are climate change and natural disasters affecting northern Pakistan? What’s the impact on the health and mental well-being of mountain communities? Eco anxiety, eco grief, and anxiety, post traumatic stress, depression and suicides heavily impact the people of Ghizer, Gilgit Baltistan, in the backdrop of environmental and climate disasters. A young mother, a blind elderly poet, and a first aid worker open up to the camera.
The film is part of a film series produced by filmmakers from Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and India as a joint initiative by Aga Khan University, Aga Khan Agency for Habitat, Aga Khan Foundation and University of Central Asia.
Director, Producer & Cinematographer: Haya Fatima Iqbal
Haya Fatima Iqbal is an Academy and two-time Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker. She directs, produces, and shoots films across Pakistan. Haya is an Acumen fellow and a Fulbright scholar. She holds a Masters in News & Documentary from New York University. She teaches journalism. She also trains people in storytelling, filmmaking and journalism in Pakistan and abroad. Haya is the Co-Founder of Documentary Association of Pakistan (DAP), an initiative to promote the culture of documentary watching in public spaces all over Pakistan.
The Fourfold
By Alisi Telengut
Canada 2020, 8 minutes
Based on the ancient animistic beliefs and shamanic rituals in Mongolia and Siberia, the short animated film explores the indigenous worldview and wisdom. With hand-painted imagery, it is a reclaim of the ideas of animism for planetary health and non-human materialities.
Alisi Telengut is a Canadian artist of Mongolian origin, living and working in Berlin. She is a Canadian Screen Award nominee and the Québec Cinéma Award – Prix Iris winner in Best Animated Film. Her work received multiple international awards and nominations, including Best Short Film at Stockholm Film Festival (Sweden), Best Animated Film at the Brussel Independent Film Festival (Belgium), Jury Award at the Aspen Shortsfest (USA). Alisi’s work has been screenedand exhibited internationally, such as at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures (USA), Sundance Film Festival (USA), TIFF (Canada), the Canadian Cultural Centre at the Embassy of Canada in France, Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (South Korea), UNESCO World Heritage Site Zollverein (Germany), among others. Her work has not only been presented as animation and moving image artworks with the unique visual style, but have also contributed to ethnographic and ethnocultural research.
Sqrauks
By Lisa Smith
UK 2023, 7 minutes
74-year-old Romani grandmother Margaret Smith was once one of the many nomadic workers who provided intensive cheap labour that allowed the agriculcultural industry in Wales to thrive. However, seasonal travelling patterns and work became disrupted by capitalism, ancient family stopping places bouldered and gentrified and today her cultural practice of nomadism is criminalised by the state. Sqrauks is the Anglo-Romani word for potatoes, but what symbolism does this vegetable represent to her and what role does it continue to play in Margaret’s life?
Lisa Smith is co-curator of the International Festival of Romani Film AKE DIKHEA?. Her latest works as a Creative producer include eight animated short documentaries films (2022) based on the lives of Holocaust victims and survivors of the National Socialist crimes against the European Sinti and Roma. The films are part of a new open-air exhibition at the memorial site in the Tiergarten launched in Febuary 2023. She has also worked on a number of drama and documentary-based shorts for NGO and media organisations and has a Masters in Inclusive Education. She is chair of ACERT (The Advisory Council for the Education of Romani & other Travellers) providing advice and consultation to the Department for Education. She worked as a journalist and Editor at Travellers’ Times, a national magazine aimed at creating a counter narrative to dominant media representation of Roma and Traveller communities in the UK from 2015 – 2021.