Various times and locations between 19 - 23 March
At the ICA, 19-20 March, in partnership with Cinenova, the EFF presents ‘The Work We Share’, four programmes of recently restored films made by women from the UK, USA, Jamaica, Australia, and Italy, exploring diverse aspects of women’s political struggles and everyday experiences through a wide range of formal approaches, critical interventions, and ethical initiatives.
Several films in ‘The Work We Share’ are made by women’s collectives, sharing a sense of collaborative effort and common political purpose. These features also characterise the artistic project of María Rojas Arias and Andrés Jurado, whose work will be shown on 22 March at the ICA. As the group La Vulcanizadora, they examine the hidden histories of social movements and workers’ culture in Colombia, creating a vibrant and artistically rich archive of resistance.
On 23 March, also at the ICA, we are proud to show a wonderful contemporary essay film by Giovanni Cioni, whose From the Planet of the Humans is a philosophical and playful rumination on migration, memory, mortality, and the fragility of existence.
Also on our Screening Room, we present two programmes concerned with past and present aspects of Serbian history and culture. Ivan Jović’s Legacy is a powerful collective testimony of the Serbian survivors of the genocide committed by the Independent State of Croatia during World War Two, while Tea Lukač’s Roots is an elegant and reflective study of the people and environment of her hometown in Croatia. The filmmakers will be taking part in live online discussions on 26 March and 28 March respectively.
Moving online, we will be sharing a wide selection of works by Paige Taul, one of the most exciting young filmmakers of the moment, whose short films reflect upon myriad facets of Black lives in the USA and elsewhere, often drawing on the artist’s personal experiences, family memories, and popular cultural references. Paige Taul will be joining us online for a live event on 25 March.
Back in the cinema, we move to Bertha DocHouse on 30 March for a special event with Zoe Beloff, whose latest film The Tramp’s New World continues the artist’s fascination with the parallel history of unrealised film projects which Beloff creatively reimagines for the present day: in this case James Agee’s unmade film for and about Charlie Chaplin. We are delighted to welcome back Zoe Beloff to the EFF to discuss her work in person.
Finally, in collaboration with Open City Documentary Festival, we present ‘In Focus: Rosine Mbakam’, the first UK retrospective of the work of Rosine Mbakam, whose films ‘give voice to the stories of Cameroonian women at home and overseas, deconstructing cinema’s colonialist gaze on African women and girls’. This will include Mbakam’s latest film, Prism, to be shown at the ICA on 19 April, along with Delphine’s Prayers on 23 April, while at Birkbeck Cinema we will show The Two Faces of a Bakilélé Woman on 20 April and Chez Jolie Coiffure on 21 April. The filmmaker will be present for some of the screenings and will take part in a workshop at Birkbeck on 20 April.
Creative and critical, performative and political, the essay film is the cutting edge of cinema’s engagement with the world.
On behalf of the Essay Film Festival: Matthew Barrington, Kieron Corless, Ricardo Matos Cabo, Janet McCabe, Raquel Morais, Laura Mulvey, Mina Radović, and Michael Temple
The Essay Film Festival is organised by the Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image in collaboration with the ICA and with support from CHASE.