Screening: The (Im)possibilities of Moving Freely
Announcement
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About the Event
Consider movement and belonging in this screening of works by Elia Suleiman, Bani Abidi, and Steffani Jemison. At the second screening session accompanying the exhibition Alien vs. Citizen, we'll view works uniquely inspired by early twentieth-century absurd and silent cinema, which produce poetic images that reflect on freedom of movement, policing, and alienation in today's world.
MCA Screenings feature works of contemporary cinema that expand traditional notions of moviegoing. This presentation is organized by Line Ajan, Barjeel Global Fellow, with the Performance and Public Practice team.
Featured images
About the films
An almost silent film, Elia Suleiman's It must be heaven
Bani Abidi and Steffani Jemison's short films also revolve around freedom of movement and policing, while looking at specific situations in which BIPOC peoples find their movement restricted. Abidi's The Distance from Here
Steffani Jemison's Escaped Lunatic (2010-11) is based on escape and chase scenes that were replicated in many early twentieth-century films. By casting different, dressed-alike people to repeat the same scene, she actualizes various tropes often depicted in the cinema of that time—namely that of “the black fugitive." These images acutely resonate today in light of the constant policing that black people in particular endure in the US.