INHERITED MEMORY: BLOOD RUNS THICKER THAN WATER is a program of short films from Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, and their diaspora, guest curated by Róisín Tapponi of the Habibi Collective.

INHERITED MEMORY: BLOOD RUNS THICKER THAN WATER
(Various Artists, 2009-2019, Various Countries, digital, approx. 78 min)

Starting at 7 PM Central Time on October 30th, “Inherited Memory” will be available to watch via a Block live video stream, followed by Q&A. It will be available for a 24-hour period.

Please RSVP through Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/122769939193

Followed by a discussion between Róisín Tapponi, founder and curator of the Habibi Collective in the U.K., and “Liberating History” series co-curators Simran Bhalla and Malia Haines-Stewart.

ABOUT THE FILMS:
“Inherited Memory” is the second of two shorts programs guest-curated by the Habibi Collective, a digital archive and curatorial platform based in London, focused on femxle filmmaking from the Middle East and North Africa. The screening features four short films that address themes of inheritance and generational memory in Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, and their diaspora. The films include Lamia Joreige’s essay film A JOURNEY, which brings together various archival media to situate personal history within a political conflict, as well as other short fiction and documentaries about family conflict, solidarity, and legacies.

BROTHERHOOD
(Meryam Joobeur, 2018, Tunisia/Canada/Qatar/Sweden, 25 min)

AZIZA
(Soudade Kaadan, 2019, Syria/Lebanon, 13 min)

A JOURNEY
(Lamia Joreige, 2006, Lebanon, 40 min)

The films in INHERITED MEMORY: BLOOD IS THICKER THAN WATER appear with permission from the artists

ABOUT THE HABIBI COLLECTIVE:
Róisín Tapponi is a curator, writer, editor, and researcher currently based in London. In 2018 she founded Habibi Collective, a digital archive and curatorial platform for MENA women’s filmmaking. She is currently developing the first independent streaming service for MENA cinema, SHASHA Movies Ltd.

Tapponi has directed four regional film festivals, including Independent Iraqi Film Festival (IIFF). She has curated programmes on MENA filmmaking in galleries, academic institutions, festivals and cinemas across the world. Tapponi currently works at The Mosaic Rooms, a gallery in Kensington dedicated to contemporary Arab art.

PART OF THE BLOCK CINEMA SERIES:
LIBERATING HISTORY: ARAB FEMINISMS AND MEDIATED PASTS

Liberating History: Arab Feminisms and Mediated Pasts celebrates Arab women filmmakers. The films draw on archival material, Islamic visual culture, and ethnographic practice to bring a decolonial and feminist perspective to personal and national pasts. The series includes path-breaking films such as Heiny Srour’s LEILA AND THE WOLVES, which centers Arab women’s struggles in the region’s modern history, and Selma Baccar’s FATMA 75, an essay film combining history and fantasy, as well as other rare and recent selections from the Middle East and North Africa. The series will also feature two nights of short films curated by the Habibi Collective.

Co-presented by The Block Museum of Art with support from the Middle East and North African Studies Program at NU and Cultural Services of the French Embassy

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Tags: Block Museum, Evanston, Habibi Collective, Liberating History - Inherited Memory (Habibi Collective Shorts II), Malia Haines-Stewart, Roisin Tapponi, Simran Bhalla