This 'Artists Changing the World' session was part of our Online Training #4 on Festivals and Social Cohesion. Speakers are Hajooj Kuka (Sudan) and Hira Nabi (Pakistan). The session took place on 15 December 2020, at 5 pm (CET/Brussels Time).

Hajooj Kuka directed and produced AKASHA (2018) premiered at Venice International Film Festival, TIFF, BFI and AFI Fest. His 2014 feature documentary Beats of the Antonov premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the People’s Choice Documentary Award. His films have screened in over a hundred festivals worldwide, collecting several other awards. Recently he became an Academy Member. Also, due to his work in the war-torn regions of Sudan, Hajooj was named one of the Leading Global Thinkers of 2014 by the Foreign Policy Magazine. He trains and works with conflict affected communities on theatre of the oppressed and film projects.

Hira Nabi works with images and text to tell stories of the everyday. Her practice is concerned with the environment, the often unseen, and a slow process of re-earthing: by which she intends to shift focus away from anthropogenic stories into a more interconnected and larger witnessing of the times we live in. Her practice moves across research and visual production making inquiries into the relationship between memory and histories, witnessing and testimony through image and narrative, questioning the legitimacy and longevity of capitalist structures, envisioning new social forms, and alliances. Her work has been exhibited at Dhaka Arts Summit, Colomboscope, Lahore Biennale, SAVVY Contemporary, HKW, Union de Artistas y Escrituras. She has shown at film festivals including CPH:DOX, Sundance, Palm Springs ShortFest, AFI Docs, Dharamshala International Film Festival and Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin. She lives and works in Lahore, Pakistan, where she is teaching at the Beaconhouse National University, and researching cinematic cultures, and botanical migrations in South Asia. She was recently awarded by the Prince Claus Fund. Artists Changing the World features inspiring keynote panels with artists of diverse backgrounds coming from all over the world. We feature inspiring speakers who can address several topics related to their region and context they work in and to hear from them how/if art can generate positive change in the world and can be spaces of resistance. It gives an in-depth insight into the social, economic, political context of the region the artists are active in.

The full keynote can be watched here.