Reflections on Film, Gender and Politics in Afghanistan

Quel rôle le cinéma et l'art jouent-ils dans des contextes de changements politiques et sociétaux ? La veille de la Journée internationale des femmes, la réalisatrice afghane Sahraa Karimi abordera cette question lors de la conférence Machteld De Metsenaere. Lors de cette dernière, elle discutera des expériences des artistes en Afghanistan et de la protection de leur liberté artistique, en y intégrant ses propres expériences de vie puisqu'elle a elle-même fui ce pays. Sahraa Karimi s’entretiendra ensuite avec Gie Goris et répondra aux questions du public.

• Sahraa Karimi est une réalisatrice afghane qui a obtenu un doctorat en cinéma et a été la première femme à diriger l'organisation nationale du cinéma afghan. Elle a contribué de manière très importante à mettre l'industrie cinématographique afghane en lumière.

L'événement est organisé par RHEA, Crosstalks, Fatima Mernissi Chair et le Kaaitheater.

Programme

18.00 – Welcome by Prof. Gily Coene
18.10 – Lecture by Sahraa Karimi
19.10 – Conversation between Sahraa Karimi and Gie Goris
19.40 – Questions from the audience

• Sahraa Karimi is an Afghan film director who has obtained a PhD in cinema and was the first woman to lead the national Afghan Film Organization. She has been a very prominent contributor in putting the Afghan film industry on the map. Her films, the latest being ‘Hava, Maryam, Ayeshe’, address the life experiences of women in Afghanistan discussing taboo subjects like domestic abuse, abortion, and pre-marital sex. In reaction to the recent developments in Afghanistan following the return of the Taliban, Karimi continues to struggle to protect the rights of Afghan filmmakers and other artists from Taliban oppression and violence, specifically from a female perspective. At the Venice film festival of September 2021, Karimi sounded the alarm and called for action within the international film community.

• From 1990 until 2020, Gie Goris was active in global journalism. From 2002 until 2020, he was editor-in-chief of MO*, a magazine and website focused on global news. He is known for his expertise in the Kashmir-Pakistan-Afghanistan region and currently works as a freelance journalist. Besides his work as a journalist, he also was chairman of vzw Open Doek (currently MOOOV Film Festival) and chair of the board of Africalia (cultural cooperation with Africa).

• Gily Coene is Professor at the Department of Ethics and Philosophy and the Department of Political Science at Brussels University. She is also director of the VUB Research Centre for Gender, Diversity and Intersectionality and member of the Research Centre for Ethics and Humanism.

This event will take place online via Microsoft Teams. Register for the event here!