Contesting Authoritarianism

In cooperation with the International Research Group on Authoritarianism and Counter-Strategies

Contesting Authoritarianism features films that challenge authoritarianism, neoliberalism and (neo)colonialism on both political and aesthetic fronts, proposing social and formal innovations for a cinema that engages with collective action. The films in the program surpass individual heroic narratives to counter long-standing ideologies of inequality and tropes of otherness by proposing transversal approaches to filmmaking from the Global South. What promising emotive and visual strategies exist that can stand against authoritarian ideologies and affects? How can authoritarian populist discourse and communication strategies be subverted? What is needed discursively, figuratively, aesthetically, and emotionally for an internationalist, anti-authoritarian, anti-capitalist practice which has the capacity to mobilize political change? Contesting Authoritarianism spans different times and geographies, zooming in on the similarities and differences between authoritarian transformations worldwide, as well as between the struggles against them. It searches for spaces of encounter, solidarity, dissent and resistance to contest authoritarian regimes, movements and ideologies worldwide.

The cinema program is part of the conference “Contesting Authoritarianism. Perspectives from the South” which takes place at the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung in Berlin between 16.05. - 21.05.2022. More information at www.irgac.org   

Sponsored by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung with funds of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development of the Federal Republic of Germany. Funded by the Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Europa.

Nafiseh Fathollahzadeh is a lens-based artist working at the intersection of urban research and artistic practices. Their recent projectMomentography of a Failure builds up a multidisciplinary artistic and urban research platform for digital mapping and artistic collaborations. Fathollahzadeh is currently a Research Fellow with EUME.

Berke Göl is a film critic and the editor-in-chief of Turkey’s leading independent film magazine Altyazı where he has been working since 2003. He is a member of FIPRESCI and the Turkish Film Critics Association (SIYAD). He served as a FIPRESCI jury member in numerous festivals, most recently at Berlinale 2022.