The two-day symposium entitled “The Ethnic Self: First Person Plural” is organised by Dr Alisa Lebow, and sponsored by Bristol Docs, a collaboration between the Universities of Bristol and the West of England, with funding from the British Academy.
Documentaries from China, Turkey, India, Argentina and the Caribbean will also be screened at the event.
Dr Alisa Lebow from UWE said:“We are looking forward to the visit of a Turkish filmmaker who is currently making an autobiographical film about her Armenian grandmother and the hidden history of Armenians in the Black Sea region of Turkey. Also present, and in dialogue with the Turkish filmmaker, will be an Armenian-American filmmaker with a film on travelling in Turkey. This is a timely issue considering the recent assassination of the Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink.
“We will also be considering the recent emergence of first person filmmaking from China, and asking if this is a sign of the westernisation of Chinese culture. The symposium will include on Saturday morning a discussion on the ‘individual voice’ in a communist or postcommunist society, led by China film scholar Professor Chris Berry of Goldsmiths College, London.”
Films being screened are:
- Nostalgia (Shu Haolun, China, 2005)
- Garden Dwelling (Tina Bastajian, US/Turkey, 2004)
- Hush! (Berke Bas, Work in Progress, Turkey)
- The Television and Me (Andres di Tella, Argentina, 2003)
- Tales of the Night Fairies (Shohini Gosh, India, 2002)
Speakers are:
- Berke Bas (Bilgi University, Istanbul)
- Tina Bastajian (Amsterdam)
- Professor Chris Berry (Goldsmiths University)
- Professor Michael Chanan (UWE)
- Sabeena Gadihoke (Jamia University, New Delhi)
- Dr Elspeth Kydd (UWE)
- Dr Alisa Lebow (UWE)