(dis)location

In the organizer's words:

Film Festival: Where the Wind Scatters Seeds;
February 7-9, 2025
Filmhaus Cologne

Where the Wind Scatters Seeds, memories bloom from barren ground of tears in the soil, whispers of forgotten friends, shadows of distant homes, erased faces on torn photographs. Echoes of yesterday, dreams of tomorrow.

Over the course of three days, a carefully curated film program, born from interdisciplinary collaboration - takes shape.
Weaving together the intersection of memory, dislocation, and radical solidarity, the program uses film to confront, as well as imagine beyond colonial violence and the ways it warps our sense of self, community, time and space. Complimenting the film program with alternative media forms such as food, music, an interactive drawing corner & a healing conversation circle, the cinema is transformed into a space for nurturing ancestral forms of belonging. It reflects on the essence of home-its presence, what it carries, and the void left in its absence. The showcased works examine the act of remembering, transforming archives into dynamic spaces for resistance, reclamation, and processes of un-learning.

Curated by:

Schaho Balbas

Vincent E.

Idil Xaashi Hassan

Julia Jesionek

Lan Mi Lê

Polina Resnianska

Sarah Savalanpour

Shadi Tabibzadeh

Safiya Yon

DAY 1: (dis)location within
What does home look like? What do the spaces we inhabit carry? What myths feed the walls that grow around us? The light traveling through the lens of the camera might not be able to reach into the nuanced lived collective and individual experiences, encouraging experimentation through other media. The "caméra-stylo" manifests itself in drawing, embroidery, collage, found footage; all these techniques form constellations of visual exposure refraining from the canonical categorization of art, articulating the subtleties of recall, summoning memories from hidden intimate spaces, and discovering transcultural mutualities.

Program #1: (dis)location
Documentary filmmaking is far from a neutral observation; everyone participating occupies a certain position, assumes power and responsibility. The agency of the subjects is filtered through the constraints the directors impose. What qualifies a narrator as reliable? What does it mean to involve the imagination of Romani children? How does feminism foster solidarities between racialized and white women? Which parts of testimonies are left out? The sacraments lurking behind the fabric of everyday preoccupations accentuate the violent structures ordering societies in the era of coloniality. When we leave homes, when home leaves the spaces we are in, is home even there?

Short film program:

I Like Life a Lot (D: Kati Macskássy, Hungary 1977, 9'; Hungarian, English subtitles)
The Komló settlement showcased the exploitation of unskilled Roma labor in the 1970s. Roma pupils and their art teachers collaborated, using audio interviews and drawings to turn harsh realities into fairytales.

The Stitches Speak (D: Nina Sabnani; India 2009; 12'; Gujarati, English, English subtitles)
Tanko Bole Chhe is a 12-minute animated documentary celebrating Kutch artisans of Kala Raksha, their journey, and life through their appliqué and embroidery art.

Drop by Drop (D: Alexandra Ramires (Xá), Laura Gonçalves; Portugal 2017; 10'; Portuguese, English subtitles)
The last villagers refuse to be forgotten. In a world driven by progress, this house endures.

Oro Rojo (D: Carme Gomila; Spain 2021; 12'; Spanish, Arabic, English subtitles)
Red Gold is an animated short documentary on Moroccan women's strawberry-picking protests in Huelva, exploring migration policies, global extractivism, and racial capitalism.

Curated by Julia Jesionek and Polina Resnianska

IMPORTANT NOTES
If you don't have a ticket, come by and we will put you on the waiting list.
If you have a ticket, please come earlier (at least 15min). If you are late, we might give your place to the people on the waiting list.