Emergent Futures CoLab

03/05/2023

We are excited to announce that we have finalized the curation of the section of the 2023 Freiburger Filmforum!

This selection unfolds a new mode of making and viewing films. Blurring the boundaries between fiction and non-fiction, these films push us to attend to the processes, ethics, and aesthetics of improvisation and collaboration. They represent a movement - a new era of filmmaking layered with multimodality - which invites us to engage with communities that are imagining and filming preferred futures around the world. Not only do these films center radical hope and build upon the playfulness of ‘ciné-provocation,’ but they also prompt us to act urgently in the face of rising local and global threats of all kinds. Through this selection, we hope to engage with and mobilize alternative pedagogies of imagination to cope with colonialism, capitalism and climate change on an individual and community level.

Please see below for details about EFC's curated section.

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FILMING FUTURES section
Curated by Rajat Nayyar & Rana El Kadi
For the full calendar of events, click here - https://www.freiburger-filmforum.de/en/focus/filming-futures/

I. Hopepunk
This ‘ethno-fiction’ selection is dystopic and yet full of hope and humor. The perfect pedagogical dose for coping with colonialism, capitalism and climate change on an individual and community level.

1. RECLAMATION - TJ Cuthand
2. GARDEN OF THE FORKING PATHS (excerpt)- Simone Rapisarda Casanova, Dara Culhane
3. CALL ME BACK - Johannes Sjöberg
4. WHEN SLEEP ENFOLDED HER - Grégoire Verbeke, Amina Abouelghar

II. Filming at the crossroads
Promises, memories, generations and traditions. This selection looks at crossroads in family life where divergent paths are negotiated through the process of filmmaking.

1. AGAIN - Jan Stöckel
2. THE LAST OF ARGANEO - David Vázquez
3. SPACE WOMAN - Hadi Moussally

III. (De)Construction
This selection situates the viewer in an otherworldly time where construction workers are wandering through the forest and half-built homes are being taken over by the filmmakers.

1. PER VOI OGGI LA LUCE DEL SOLE NON SPLENDERÀ - Andrea Bordoli
2. HOUSEWARMING - Effi & Amir

IV. Playful Dystopias
This selection invites the viewers to co-perform in their absurdist and playful atmospheres, where filmmakers and actors are speculating future possibilities of self-acceptance. Accompanied by a “climate spa” commercial!

1. MUSIC, SOUND, NOISE - Jared Epp
2. VICTIMS OF AN ANOMALY - Levente Huszka
3. SPA SYBARITE - Joshua Ashish Dawson

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Alongside, EFC will also be offering a multimodal performance ethnography workshop led by Dr. Magdalena Kazubowski-Houston (https://shorturl.at/pIOPS) and a special panel on future-making methodologies (https://shorturl.at/lqEN9).

The film festival will feature 10 days of international film screenings accompanied by film talks, workshops, exhibitions, and panels, both online and at venues in Freiburg, Ahmedabad, and Nairobi. Check out our Travel Kit for more information about travel options and accommodation in Freiburg!https://www.freiburger-filmforum.de/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Travel-Kit.pdf

If you're unable to join us in person, you can stream a selection of live-events via Cinemalovers and participate in our conversations from wherever you are. We hope to see many EFC members joining us in person and online! https://koki-freiburg.cinemalovers.de/en/home

23/04/2023

How might collaborative multimodal ethnography begin to challenge neoliberal and xenophobic media ecologies?

Collaborative, multimodal ethnography can provide under/mis-represented community members with a platform to conduct open-ended, collaborative, self-reflexive, and therapeutic explorations. For example, participants of the ARTlife Film Collective use such multimodal projects to challenge the reductionist representations of Muslim women in the Danish media. Such explorations may include the flow of images through direct messages and social media, auto-ethnography, and co-directing the film. These platforms facilitate the process of representing themselves on their own terms, in ways that challenge stereotypical portrayals of their communities within xenophobic media ecologies. The collective is critical about using iconic images that reinforce sensationalist portrayals of Muslim women.

Listen to this and all other insights gleaned from 05 with ARTlife Film Collective: Dr. Karen Waltorp, Nilab Totakhil, Asma Mohammadzai Safi, Sama Sadat Ben Haddou, Mursal Khosrawi i Køge byråd and Lea Glob here:
https://www.urgentemergent.org/talking-uncertainty/artlifefilm

Listen to this talk: https://t.ly/2n3y

Many thanks to Jared Epp, Kiara Jacoby, Magdalena Kazubowski-Houston, Rana El Kadi and Rajat Nayyar for the questions they posed that led to this insight.

28/03/2023

EFC's Talking Uncertainty #05 session "Multimodal Articulations of Futures in an Afghan-Danish Film Collective" with ARTlife Film Collective: Dr. Karen Waltorp, Nilab Totakhil, Asma Mohammadzai Safi, Sama Sadat Ben Haddou, Mursal Khosrawi i Køge byråd, Lea Glob and Jared Epp is now available as a podcast!

We have also gleaned two insights from the talk that incorporate bite-sized podcasts and text. You can listen to the full talk and access the insights here: https://www.urgentemergent.org/talking-uncertainty/artlifefilm

In this talk, members of the ARTlife Film Collective discussed and unpacked their multimodal filmmaking collaborations within the context of politically charged media ecologies in Denmark. The talk highlights how the women in the collective use collaborative filmmaking and social media tools to co-articulate their imagined futures, and what it means to be both Danish and Afghan.

This podcast also includes audio clips (from their upcoming film) that were screened by the collective during our online talk.

Subscribe and listen to our podcast series on:
Apple - https://apple.co/2ZnyXnK
Google - shorturl.at/afnxC
Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3k0g6ai

Special thanks to EFC co-curators Rajat Nayyar and Rana El Kadi for the insight synthesis!

Additional Credits:
- Podcast production: Rajat Nayyar, Rana El Kadi
- Podcast sound design: Debashis Sinha
- Visual design: Kaustubh Khare, Rahul Tiwari
- Live Twitter engagement: Lachlan Summers

York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR),
Centre for Imaginative Ethnography,
Re-Vision: Centre for Art and Social Justice
European Association of Social Anthropologists
Society for Cultural Anthropology
American Anthropological Association
Commission on Visual Anthropology IUAES
Tallinn Anthropology
Ethnography Lab

06/03/2023

Excited for our EFC panel ‘Imagining Differently: Challenging Neoliberal Media Ecologies in Futures Visual Anthropology’ at RAI Film Festival online conference on Tuesday, 7 March, 7-8:45am & 9:30-11:15am (EST)!

We will ask: How can we imagine differently and co-create multimodal outputs that challenge narratives produced by capitalist and xenophobic media ecologies?

https://raifilm.org.uk/2023-panels/ #12169

Centre for Imaginative Ethnography
Magdalena Kazubowski-Houston
Rajat Nayyar
Rana El Kadi
Jared Epp
Karen Waltorp
Etnografisk Eksploratorium / Ethnographic Exploratory
Freiburger Filmforum

13/10/2022

Reminder to send your abstracts for our upcoming RAI Film Festival panel ‘Imagining Differently: Challenging Neoliberal Media Ecologies in Futures Visual Anthropology’ 📽 OCTOBER 31!

https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/raiff2023/p/12169 #

Call for papers
The RAI Film Festival conference will be held 6-10 March 2023 online.

Please browse the full list of panels and decide where to propose your paper: https://raifilm.org.uk/rai-ff-23-conference-panels/

All proposals must be submitted via the online form that can be found on each panel page.

There are three formats for the panels at this conference. There are traditional panels with 15-minute papers, roundtables with shorter presentations and longer discussions, and workshops. Workshops include work-in-progress feedback sessions for creative work such as film, multimodal projects, sound, illustration, websites, VR, amongst others.

This conference runs in conjunction with an online film festival streaming, 3-31 March 2023 and in-person events at the Watershed Cinema (Bristol, UK), 23-25 March 2023. The conference fee includes access to the streaming platform and the in-person event.

And in case, you missed it, the keynotes, panels and paper presentations from our previous RAI Film Festival 2021 Conference, “Creative Engagement with Crisis”, are available here as a free online streaming resource: https://vimeo.com/showcase/conference21

19/09/2022

We’re very excited to announce our curatorial collaboration with Freiburger Filmforum: Festival of Transcultural Cinema on the section!

We have developed this section for Freiburger Filmforum's 20th festival edition (May 11- May 21, 2023) based on the insights from our sessions. https://www.freiburger-filmforum.de/en/call-filming-futures/

We will be exploring the ways in which and projects might provide us with opportunities to intervene, provoke and/or collaborate around imagining and performing new futures.

This section will include an exciting line-up of films and multimodal outputs which question our understanding of time, linear storytelling, collaboration and activism. These works will be screened in a special program accompanied by a panel discussion titled “Film, Multimodality and Future-making Methodologies.”

Filmmakers, artists and researchers who deal with narratives, imaginations and visions of future(s) - including those beyond and academic circles - are invited to apply on FilmFreeway, with the additional option to participate in the panel discussion through completing a Google form. https://filmfreeway.com/FreiburgerFilmforum

Early bird deadline: September 30, 2022
Regular deadline: November 15, 2022

We look forward to receiving your submissions!

08/08/2022

Hello folks! Rana El Kadi, Rajat Nayyar, Jared Epp and Karen Waltorp invite you to submit an abstract for EFC's panel 'Imagining Differently: Challenging Neoliberal Media Ecologies in Futures Visual Anthropology' at the upcoming RAI Film Festival's online conference to be held between March 6 and 10, 2023 - https://raifilm.org.uk/call-for-papers-23/.

The cutting-edge anthropological film festival will be hosting a number of academic panels focussing on and . We will be using our panel to extend the insights around decolonizing , and gleaned from our podcast series.

We kindly request that you share this CFP in your network and submit an abstract for consideration through this link by October 31, 2022 (UK Time) - https://raifilm.org.uk/rai-ff-23-conference-panels/ #12169

You do not need to be an EFC member to submit an abstract; however, we will invite presenters to become members before attending the conference. Please let us know if you have any questions.

20/05/2022

How can data and technology help farming communities navigate uncertainty and improve their livelihoods?

Farming as an activity has always been filled with uncertainty. Although farmers in have generations of experience dealing with and transforming it into something very literally productive, the agricultural sector has recently been struggling immensely due to many factors. Combining with approaches, Sumarth’s interdisciplinary model provides fresh perspectives that move beyond disciplinary-specific biases and make it possible to solve complex problems and drive innovation. This model highlights how agricultural data and emerging technologies can be used to inject some level of certainty into the sector. However, technological interventions also run the risk of bringing about unintended negative . It is especially important in these situations to stay on in the community to maintain and ensure that the benefits of data-centered emerge in the long term. After all, trust building is usually an ongoing and improvisational process.

Listen to this and all other insights gleaned from 04 with Prabhat Kumar here: https://www.urgentemergent.org/talking-uncertainty/sumarth

Many thanks to Durba Chattaraj, Kaustubh Khare, Rajat Nayyar, Rana El Kadi for the questions they posed that led to this insight.

York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR)
Network Capital
Ashoka University
Young India Fellowship

11/05/2022

We are happy to announce that Talking Uncertainty #06 - “Misfits in the World: Crip Futurities and World-making in Disability Arts” - will be held on Saturday May 28, 2022 between 1 – 2:30 pm EST!

Dr. Eliza Chandler, Dr. Carla Rice, and Lisa East will speculate upon the anti-assimilationist politics of “crip cultural practices” within the disability arts sector in northern Turtle Island (Canada).

The talk will be followed by a discussion led by Dr. Rana El Kadi, where EFC members will explore how arts and cultural organizations may transform their pandemic practices into crip cultural practices by seeking out ” (Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha 2016) from disabled artists and curators. We will contextualize the speakers’ work within the discourse of ” (Alison Kafer 2013), the disruptive, future-oriented politics of disability arts (Sean Lee 2020), and the iterative praxis of (Aimi Hamraie 2017).

We shall further discuss the ethical and practical complexities of “cripping” our research methodologies and gesturing towards decolonization while collaborating with disability community members with intersectional identities and conflicting access needs.

Read more about the talk here: https://www.urgentemergent.org/talking-uncertainty/misfitsintheworld

All our talks are recorded and published as podcasts on the EFC website: www.urgentemergent.org/

Become an EFC member if you would like to attend and participate live: https://www.urgentemergent.org/join-us

We will have Zoom captions on for the duration of the talk, and the speakers will provide visual descriptions. If you have any other access needs, please let us know by Tuesday May 17, and we will try our best to accommodate.

Special thanks to our EFC Designer Kaustubh Khare for his beautiful talk design based on Erin Ball’s performance in at the Cripping the Arts symposium.

Creative Users Projects
Re-Vision: Centre for Art and Social Justice
Tangled Art + Disability
Bodies in Translation
York University - Sensorium: Centre for Digital Arts & Technology
York U AMPD
Toronto Metropolitan University
Society for Disability Studies
Centre for Imaginative Ethnography

10/05/2022

EFC's Talking Uncertainty #04 session "Seeding Happiness: Sumarth’s Farmer-led Agri-Models for Rural Development in " with Prabhat Kumar, Dr. Durba Chattaraj & Kaustubh Khare is now available as a podcast!

We have also gleaned two insights from the talk that incorporate bite-sized podcasts and textual syntheses. You can listen to the full talk or access the insights here: https://www.urgentemergent.org/talking-uncertainty/sumarth

This podcast features Prabhat Kumar who has been building holistic models to establish farmer-led institutions, foster sustainable livelihoods, reduce the carbon footprint and provide nutritional security to farmers in , India. We reflect on the politics and imaginaries of these community-led programs and partnerships, in light of the ongoing farmers' protests in the country.

Subscribe and listen to our podcast series on:
Apple - https://apple.co/2ZnyXnK
Google - shorturl.at/afnxC
Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3k0g6ai

Credits:
- Insight synthesis: Rajat Nayyar, Rana El Kadi
- Podcast production: Rajat Nayyar, Rana El Kadi
- Visual design: Kaustubh Khare
- Podcast sound design: Debashis Sinha

York Centre for Asian Research (YCAR)
Ashoka University
Young India Fellowship
Sumarth