1. Program
  2. /
  3. Film Series
  4. /
  5. Cinemas of Relocation
March 2023

Cinemas of Relocation

Curated by Ahmet Gürata and John Sundholm

The series “cinemas of relocation” explores the diverse film practices that result from migration and mobility. Instead of approaching these cinemas as exclusively exilic, accented or as expressing a migratory content, the focus is on how filmmakers reassess their cultural practice and situation. These situations may be challenging and deprived, but also empowering, resulting in a new activism. A common denominator for the films in the program is that they have predominantly been made by filmmakers who have relocated to Sweden or West-Germany in the 1970s or 1980s due to political oppression or authoritarianism in their home countries. Most of the filmmakers represented here originate from Turkey, related to the large diaspora at the time in Europe, but there are also films by filmmakers from Colombia, Greece and Peru. Sharing not only a focus on practice and relocation, another common denominator is the precarious conditions of their production. The program brings together rare prints that, in both content and production, articulate cinemas of relocation.

Ahmet Gürata is an academic and programmer. He teaches at the Izmir University of Economics in Turkey. He has published research on film history, cross-cultural reception and documentaries. He has been curating programs for the Antalya Golden Orange Film Festival and Festival on Wheels.

John Sundholm is professor of cinema studies at Stockholm University and has published widely on minor cinemas. His latest book is the co-authored The Cultural Practice of Immigrant Filmmaking: Minor Immigrant Cinemas in Sweden 1950-1990 (2019). He also works as a programmer and, since 2022, is the director of Scandinavia’s only international experimental film event, AVANT.

Funded by Hauptstadtkulturfonds

Documentations

Documentations

Gastarbeiterstrasse + Betongen som blommar + Invandrarkvinnor
Cesar Galindo

Cesar Galindo

Pichqa minutukuna ilaqtanchispi wanuqkunamanta + Cholo Soy + Stockholmstango
Cinecooperativo

Cinecooperativo

Films by Guillermo Alvarez
Retelling history and place

Retelling history and place

Mrs. Kutzer and other residents of Naunyn Street + Kazım Akkaya and the residents of Naunyn Street