(OFF)SIDE CINEMA presents
COLLECTIVE
NOW
ROJAVA FILM COMUNE ANDREA LUKA ZIMMERMAN
UNICORN RIOT ANDREW WILSON - THIS TRUST IDEA MAY/JUNE ONLINE films and discussions MAY/JUNE 2021
page: 4-9
ROJAVA FILM COMMUNE page: 10-11
ERASE AND FORGET page: 12-15 UNICORN RIOT page: 16-17
CAN’T BEAT IT ALONE
page: 18-27
THIS TRUST IDEA
We were excited to facilitate an online season of screenings and discussions exploring films made by collectives, grown from community and which challenge the mainstream media misrepresentation. We explored the notions of a ‘post truth’ society and the role of a documenter within it. From the Rojava Film Commune in Syria to the streets of America and ending in our own cinema in Newcastle, we shared and discussed extraordinary work which activates communities, reveals hidden realities, and inspires new ways forward. In this brochure, you will find the recordings of the conversations, some of the films discussed and further provocations. We hope the conversations will continue long after this season ends.
Our intimate, 50 person cinema is unable to reopen under current covid restrictions. Though our building is closed, we still came together. This was our third (Off)SIDE Cinema season; it has been remarkable to connect with people across the world to share and discuss film. We were pleased to see this season widen the conversations and bring more people into the dialogue. Our final event was live streamed from our cinema as we prepare to open our doors once again. This season was made possible by funding from Film Hub North, Arts Council England and Community Foundation.
ROJAVA FILM COMMUNE ROJAVA FILM COMMUNE is a collective of filmmakers founded in 2015, based in the autonomous region of `Rojava` in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria. The commune is actively working in the region to rebuild and reorganise the infrastructures of filmmaking and film education. In the last years, it has educated a new generation of Rojava filmmakers, organized screenings in cities and villages and produced films. The Commune works to represent the values and ideals of the Rojava Revolution, but also to mediate and depict the daily struggles in the Syrian civil war and Rojava’s collective attempt to build a new society.
We shared the following four films which can be viewable on request. We were honoured to be joined by members of the commune for an online discussion event. The conversation was facilitated by Side Cinema curator, Dawn Felicia Knox and Christo Wallers, co-founder of Star and Shadow Cinema.
Online conversation recorded May 20th, 2021
STORIES OF DESTROYED CITIES Çiroka bajarên wêranbûyî Shero Hinde, Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, 2016, 77m The first feature shot in their own language by the Rojava Film Commune, this film sets out blending fictional filmmaking with testimonies of those who experienced the trauma of war directly, seeking to collaboratively transform their tragedies into a determination to leave a better Rojava for generations to come. Sinjar, Kobanî and Jazaa are three towns that display the most destructive impact of modern war.
HOME/Mal (Sevinaz Evdike, Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, 2018, 9m40) The first short shot in the city of Raqqa, former capital of the Islamic State in Syria, after it was liberated. While society tries to cope with the consequences of war, a small girl finds a peculiar way to survive amidst the ruins.
12x1 (Hogir Qolan, Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, 2016, 40m) Building a film culture from the ground up, one of the first objectives of the Rojava Film Commune was to start a film school – the Rojava Film Academy. This documentary offers a window onto the collaborative process of the collective as they train 12 young people in all areas of filmmaking while keeping firmly aligned to the democratic principles of the revolution.
LONELY TREES / Darên bi tenê (Shero Hinde, Democratic Federation of Northern Syria, 2017, 43m)
“Our lives cannot be explained with books, only with songs” (Abdullah Öcalan). As the dominant history of the Kurdish people has been written by the states that oppressed them, traditional Kurdish folk songs have been a tool, a way to resist oppression and to preserve their history, passing it on to future generations. Through beautiful pictures of landscapes and people, this film connects a new of form of cinematic storytelling with that of Dengbêj - the heritage of singers, poets and storytellers of the region.
ERASE AND FORGET Andrea Luka Zimmerman/1 hour 28 minutes/ 2018
Charting ‘the deep bonds between Hollywood’s fictionalized conflicts and America’s hidden wars’, Andrea Luka Zimmerman’s ERASE AND FORGET is an investigative documentary which charts the extraordinary life and times of Bo Gritz, one of America’s highest decorated veterans and the ‘inspiration’ for Rambo and Brando’s Colonel Kurtz. Using never before seen archive footage of covert US operations, and interviews filmed over a ten year period, ERASE AND FORGET provides a complex perspective of an individual and a country in crisis. ERASE AND FORGET is a compelling inquiry into the nature of human conscience which raises urgent questions about US militarism and gun control, and embodies contemporary American society in all its dizzying complexity and contradictions.
Director Andrea Luka Zimmerman began this film as part of the Vision Machine Film Project which she co-founded in 2001. The filmmakers’ collective sought to create an international video production and distribution network to research, analyse and respond to the conditions and mechanisms of economic, political and military power. In particular, they focused on the many forms of systemic violence and terror – from organized mass murder to dangerous working conditions – and the contradictions this devastation poses to the dominant notions of Progress and History, the mythology of Power, and the religion of Capital. We were honoured to be joined by ANDREA LUKA ZIMMERMAN and Professor ANDREW HOSKINS for the conversation event.
online conversation recorded May 27th, 2021
During the BLACK LIVES MATTER protest in America, UNICORN RIOT shared the stories of the community uprisings as well as facilitated live streams from the protests. Their act of witnessing provided a context, a voice and plea for collective response to systemic police violence. We will be sharing several of their documentaries and welcoming founders to an online discussion about their vital work. Unicorn Riot is a decentralized, educational non-profit media organization of artists and journalists. Their work is dedicated to exposing root causes of dynamic social and environmental issues through amplifying stories and exploring sustainable alternatives in today’s globalized world. Born from the Internet in 2015, their commercial-free platform operates non-hierarchically, independent of corporate or government control. Unicorn Riot spans across multiple US cities including Boston, Denver, Minneapolis, and Philadelphia as well as South Africa.
online conversation with UNICORN RIOT cofounder NIKO GEORGIADES JUNE 3rd, 2021
BEYOND THE BARRICADE/ GEORGE FLOYD SQUARE Unicorn Riot, 10 min, 2021 Since the police killing of George Floyd, the area where Floyd took his last breath has turned into an international sacred space controlled by the community. The autonomous zone called George Floyd Square (GFS) consists of four city blocks around 38th Street and Chicago Avenue in South Minneapolis. Community Defenders come together to hold the space for grief, community aid and transformation..
BLACK SNAKE KILLAZ UNICORN RIOT, 120 min, 2017 The film highlights actions taken by water protectors to stop the construction of the oil pipeline and investigates actions taken by law enforcement, military, and corporate mercenaries to quell the monthslong protest. Black Snake Killaz timelines the historical events that unfolded in Standing Rock and brings you a raw front line experience of direct actions. Although the Dakota Access Pipeline was completed, the impact of the resistance movement will be long-lasting. Black Snake Killaz: a #NoDAPL story is one of the many stories that has emerged from the #NoDAPL movement. Unicorn Riot offers Black Snake Killaz: a #NoDAPL story as a public resource to provide a concise yet detailed account of these historical events.
CAN’T BEAT IT ALONE Amber Current Affairs Unit, 45 mins, 1985 An exploration of strategies for the Left, which grew out of the engagements with coalfield community, anti-nuclear and peace movement groups in the mid 1980s. It brings together Easington Miners’ Support Group, Whittle Women’s Support Group, Tyneside CND groups, the Save Druridge Bay Campaign, Billingham Against Nuclear Dumping and the Greenham Common Women. The context was provided by the Miners’ Strike of 1984/85, the plans for a PWR nuclear power station at Druridge Bay in Northumberland and the proposal by NIREX to dump waste in the anhydrite mine under Billingham. Made under the auspices of the ACTT Workshop Declaration; broadcast as part of Channel 4’s Eleventh Hour series.
The work of Amber’s Current Afairs Unit was brought into the discussion during our conversation with UNICORN RIOT as parallels were drawn between work of both collectives. CAN’T BEAT IT ALONE, made by Amber’s Current Affairs Unit, was discussed at length by director Elaine Drainville during our conversation after THIS TRUST IDEA (recording available on the following page). We are pleased to share it here in the context of this season and we look forward to further conversations it will provoke.
ANDREW WILSON This Trust Idea is a 30 minute video which blends found footage to playfully explore the intersection of trust, coercion and democracy. The video and its accompanying text were initiated by early observations that the countries who dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic best were those who have the highest levels of trust between its citizens and its institutions, and those with the worst infection rates were those where public trust is at its lowest – places where nobody believes their politicians nor their newspapers. This Trust Idea presents a playful yet provocative layering of complex issues which are intended to be consumed collectively and discussed at length afterwards.
This event was livestreamed from our cinema – reactivating our dormant cinema as a place of connection and collective conversation. We were honoured to be joined by Andrew Wilson, Elaine Drainville, Mwenza Blell and Lindsay Duncanson. The following eight pages are a provocation accompanying the film and informed the conversation.
Recording of the conversation which was live streamed from SIDE Cinema JUNE 10th, 2021
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