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India/East Africa Weekender

INDIA – EAST AFRICA WEEKENDER, WORLD CINEMA SEASON 2021

THAMESMEAD TEXAS presents a season of WORLD CINEMA, consisting of a series of weekend screening events throughout Autumn 2021, spotlighting ethnically diverse communities based in Thamesmead, from countries afar as Cape Verde, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Jamaica. We launch our SECOND programme of the Autumn 2021 season with a weekend screening event co-programmed with local artists Said Adrus and Bhajan Hunjan.

Indian Weekender Spotify playlist curated by Ashwani Sharma & Said Adrus
India/ East Africa Weekender Trailers curated by Bhajan Hunjan & Said Adrus

SATURDAY 23 OCTOBER 2021, FROM 7:30PM, WITH INTRO BY SAID ADRUS
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT – SAID ADRUS WITH RIDDLE OF BAKULI (2020) PLUS RETROSPECTIVE OF THE ARTIST’S MOVING IMAGE DATING FROM 1995 PLUS LIVE DISCUSSION WITH ARTIST AND ASHWANI SHARMA! INCLUDING HOMECOOKED INDIAN CUISINE & BEATS SELECTED BY ASHWANI SHARMA!

ON THE SPOT, (1995) 28 mins, 47 seconds

On the Spot explores Self/Portraiture and is influenced by the South Asian Underground music scene where Tabla beats mix with technology.

KHANA PINA, (2002) 2 mins, 43 seconds

A short video was part of a larger piece of work made for Year of the Artist & shown at an offsite space in Nottingham.

PAVILLION V, (2014) 5 minutes, 18 seconds

LOST PAVILLION, (2007) 8 minutes, 40 seconds
Part of Pavilion Series a project which explored the involvement of Indian Soldiers in British Army during WW1 & WW2, captures the neglect & desecration of Muslim Soldiers’ graves in Woking.

IDEAS IN THE AIR, (2009) 1 minute, 14 seconds

Moving image clip played on a loop for the International residency with Bow Arts at Balfron Tower, East London

RIDDLE OF BAKULI, (2020) 23 mins, 6 seconds

‘The Riddle of Bakuli’ expresses a personal journey in which Said Adrus shares his South Asian narrative within an East African context.

45 MINUTE (SIT DOWN) SHORTS PROGRAMME
Q&A WITH ARTIST & ASHWANI SHARMA!
FOLLOWED BY DRINKS AT THE BAR
CLOSE 11PM

SUNDAY 24 OCTOBER 2021, FROM 7:30PM
ARTISTS BHAJAN HUNJAN AND SAID ADRUS SELECT TRAILERS AND INTRODUCE WORK BY ACCLAIMED INDIE FILMMAKER GURINDER CHADHA! INCLUDING HOMECOOKED INDIAN CUISINE & BEATS SELECTED BY ASHWANI SHARMA!

A SELECTION OF TRAILER SELECTED BY BHAJAN HUNJAN AND SAID ADRUS, 15 minutes

I’M BRITISH BUT, (1989) 29 MINUTES

Before she hit the big time with Bend it Like Beckham, Gurinder Chadha made this fascinating documentary on what it meant to be a young British Asian in the 1980s. The young people interviewed are from across the UK; the common thread is that they see it as home, but their differing views about what being Asian and British means for them are underscored by the beats of Bhangra and Bangla music.

One Pakistani woman brought up in Glasgow says that she sees herself not as British but as Scottish/Pakistani – it’s fascinating to realise how some of the more strongly held cultural values are passed on not just from generation to generation, but to immigrant communities, too.

BHAJI ON THE BEACH (1993) 103 MINUTES

Indian women (Kim Vithana, Sarita Khajuria) try but cannot escape their problems on a day trip to a British beach resort.

145 MINUTE PROGRAMME (2 HRS, 15 MINS)
FOLLOWED BY DRINKS AT THE BAR
CLOSE 11PM

London based artist SAID ADRUS has been active since the 80’s mainly in the United Kingdom and Switzerland, but as well in Italy, Turkey and Uganda. Adrus has drawn upon painting, drawing and printmaking to express himself, blurring the lines between techniques and media. He has done as well numerous exhibitions, performances, on site realisations and artistic collaborations combining installations, movies, music… Throughout his practice and among the talks and research he has done, Adrus has tried to address issues such as displacement, estrangement, racism, a range of social and historical tensions to which he has been personally confronted since he was a kid. He currently shares his time between London, where his studio is, and Burgdorf near Bern in Switzerland. @saidadrus

Visual artist BHAJAN HUNJAN is a painter and printmaker. Alongside her studio practice she works on Public Art commissions and projects in the built environment, created through community consultation and participation that engage people. She also works as an artist educator with diverse communities and in schools. Bhajan Hunjan lived in Thamesmead as part of the Bow Arts Community of Artists from 2018 – 2021 www.bhajanhunjan.com

ASHWANI SHARMA is the Course Leader for the BA (Hons) Film and Screen Studies at the London College of Communication (LCC), University of the Arts London (UAL). He is presently completing a book on ‘Race and Visual Culture’ (Bloomsbury Academic) in which he is examining the aesthetics and politics of racial capitalism, diasporic time and space. Ashwani is a founding editor of darkmatter journal http://www.darkmatter101.org. He is the co-editor of Disorienting Rhythms: The Politics of the New Asian Music (Zed Books). He is also a member of the Black Study Group (London), and is developing an online (sub)urban archival project ‘Must We Burn Croydon’ http://burncroydon.tumblr.com/. He writes and performs poetry, DJs, has worked in the BBC and independent film in sound, and has been an aeronautical engineer.

GURINDER CHADHA was born in Kenya, and grew up in Southall, London, England. She began her career as a news reporter with BBC Radio, directed several award winning documentaries for the BBC, and began an alliance with the British Film Institute (BFI) and Channel Four. In 2001, Chadha set up her own production company: Bend It Films.

Supported by Film FAN London & Bow Arts Trust

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