Sea Behind the Wall | Outdoor Film Screening | LUPA/TERRE: The Fight for Land and Justice

*Please note: In case of bad weather, the screening will be taking place indoors at Oyoun.*

Curated by Savannah Garcia

Lupa in tagalog, above else, means land. In the Philippines, the word lupa also resonates with the complex issues of private property and the ongoing oppression faced by sugarcane workers. Hacienda, an exploitative land system inherited from Spanish colonization, still prevails today. In response, filmmakers and artists are shedding light on the multifaceted aspects of post-colonialism, exploring its impact on the landscape and the bodies of laborers toiling in the fields.

This screening by the curator Savannah Garcia offers diverse perspectives on this subject, all with the shared goal of revealing the social, political, and environmental realities through the narratives of laborers, farmers, social workers, and scholars. Following the screening, Enzo Camacho, the artist behind "羽化 (wings becoming)", and representative of ALPAS Pilipinas, will join and engage in a discussion with scholars who possess invaluable knowledge of land and soil issues.

10:00-21:00 How Many Seas Will You Swim? by Lizza May David & Gabriel Rossell-Santillán

:: Video installation in loop at Oyoun’s Café

Inspired by chants and myths from Mexico and the Philippines this installation displays our dialogue on the ocean as a spatial dimension and relational point of view. The installation meticulously traces the narrative strands of a Bauhinia orchid tree, symbolizing historical trade relations during the New Spain era. It deftly intertwines modern visuals with poetic eloquence and rigorous research, unravelling multilayered concepts of time.

19:30-19:50 Pagkatapos ng Tigkiriwi (After the Dead Season) by Danielle Madrid (23:05)

:: Film screening in Oyoun’s Garden

Pagkatapos ng Tigkiriwi is a documentary that tells a story of three areas in Negros Occidental and their struggle for land and food security.

19:50-20:00 羽化* (wings becoming) by Amy Lien & Enzo Camacho (06:20)

:: Film screening in Oyoun’s Garden

* [yǔhuà]
A cosmological system is presented here through 16mm silent film, five handmade paper drawings, a light installation made of onion skins, and “tangle works” (nests, kindling, intertwinings demonic in their thick opacity). The film loops on a ritual of fire ensues, as a small barrel lined with joss paper is lit seemingly with the touch of flesh. One by one, butterflies are fed to flame, becoming fire-bodied, then flaking into their presumed disappearance.

20:00-21:20 Tu crois que la terre est chose morte (You Think the Earth is a Dead Thing) by Florence Lazar (70 minutes)

:: Film screening in Oyoun’s Garden

The film looks at the “global ecological crisis” from the perspective of the island of Martinique. In reflecting on ecology, the film not only raises issues concerning nature and damaged ecosystems, but, moreover, focuses on spaces of resistance to the crisis in which women and men acknowledge and act from the historical perspective of colonialism, where ecological struggle and the colonial past are intrinsically linked. Taken from Césaire's play Une tempête, a postcolonial adaptation of Shakespeare's The Tempest, the title not only evokes the ecological ravages of colonialism, but also the emancipatory potential of history.

Doors: 18:30 h
Video Installation: 10:00 h - 21:00 h at Oyoun’s Café
Screenings: 19:30 h - 21:30 h at Oyoun’s Garden
Discussion: 21:30 h - 22:30 h at Oyoun’s Café

Ticket: Free admission | Registration here
Language: English

Photo: Filmstill, wings becoming

Biography

Savannah Garcia

Savannah Garcia is a French-Filipino researcher currently based in Berlin, with a background in art and social sciences (EHESS, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales). Specializing in art and realism, and in documentary cinema in particular, she has collaborated with the Cinéma du Réel (Centre Pompidou) and the Festival International Jean Rouch (Musée du Quai Branly) in Paris. She persues her research in Berlin, on the relation between home (foyer) and nation in global history. She is also an active member of ALPAS Pilipinas and the co-creator of Banana Ketchup, a zine dedicated in unpacking and deconstructing colonial narratives.

Sea Behind the Wall

"Sea behind the Wall’ is a participatory outdoor chapter within Oyoun's overarching initiative Listening to the Land. In this immersive outdoor series, participants are invited to engage on a collective journey that explores neo-colonialism’s complexities, incorporating intergenerational, indigenous and contemporary practices for solidarity.

They will be guided through a range of experiences, including decolonizing agri/cultural workshops, foraging and gardening sessions, film screenings focusing on land and human rights, public interventions led by indigenous communities, and a street side window exhibition that winds its ways through the city of Berlin.

The project “Sea Behind the Wall” is part of the initiative DRAUSSENSTADT funded by Berliner Projektfonds Urbane Praxis as well as Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Gesellschaflichen Zusammenhalt. Further funded by the Globus Opstart Programm of Nordisk Kulturfond

Accessibility:

Oyoun is constantly working to make access to all events offered in the building as barrier-free as possible. For individual information on accessibility, please send us an email to access(at)oyoun.de. We will get back to you as soon as possible. More info on this topic here.

Awareness:

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