GCVA films at the RAI Film Festival.

The Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology will screen three documentary films in competition at the Royal Anthropological Institute’s International Festival of Ethnographic Film from 16 to 19 June 2015.

Two student films from our Masters in Visual Anthropology are running for the Wiley Student Film Prize: The Sacred in the Secular by Karin Leivategija and Haraka Baraka: Movement is a Blessing by Lana Askari. The films will screen on Wednesday 17 June from 11:00 in Cinema 3.

Karin on The Sacred in the Secular:

My film explores the relationship between secular and religious life. Toomas is an Estonian Orthodox clergyman who as well is committed to music. He expresses that commitment through being an ethno and reggae music DJ. It is a combination that comes across as surprising and raises questions even in a largely secular country like Estonia. Due to the conservative history of the church it is often believed that there is no place for liberal expression in religious life. I set out to explore whether the gap between religious and secular life is as wide as it is typically assumed.

Lana on Haraka Baraka:

After having lived in the Netherlands for over 20 years my parents, Gulzar and Shwan, decided to return to Kurdistan. Escaping the Iraqi regime as refugees in the early 90s, Iraqi Kurdistan has recently developed into a regional safe-haven. However, with current tensions around the threat of the Islamic State (IS), the social and political landscape is changing drastically. In Haraka Baraka, I follow my parent’s return to their homeland whilst addressing notions of belonging, transnationalism, temporality and (re)imagining future horizons.

Lorenzo Ferrarini’s documentary Kalanda – The Knowledge of the Bush on initiated hunters in Burkina Faso is included in the RAI and Basil Wright Film Prizes screening strand and will screen on Thursday 18 June at 9:00 in Cinema 1.

Complete programme on the RAI Film Festival website