On WEDNESDAY 16TH OCTOBER we travel as a group from Brussels to see volunteers and friends of Cinemaximiliaan who took part in the making of Hold on to her (2024, 80’, Robin Vanbesien), either behind or in front of the camera.
WHAT: Screening of Hold on to her at Gent Film Festival
WHEN: WEDNESDAY 16TH OCTOBER
TIME: 19:00, (meet at Cinemaximiliaan at 16:00 or at Yser Metro station at 17:00 to take coach to Gent)
VO: NL, Kurdish, FR, EN; ST-OND: NL & FR
Please confirm your space on the coach and your spot on the guestlist via email to interns@cinemaximiliaan.org.
SYNOPSIS
Mawda Shawri, two years old in 2018, sister of Hama, daughter of Phrast and Shamden, was shot dead by a Belgian police officer during a migration border control on a Belgian central highway. Robin Vanbesien’s hold on to her is the depiction of a collective hearing: various activists, with or without documents, reflect on Mawda’s case. The multilingual testimonies shared in this simple but incisive film essay, an extension of Vanbesien’s doctoral research in the arts, explores how to go beyond official narratives, recognising the power of ordinary citizens and their solidarity.
FILMMAKER BIO:
After Solidarity Poiesis (2016-2018), in which he investigated the social poetics of grassroots solidarity movements in Athens, Robin Vanbesien shifted his focus to the struggle in Belgium. Before Holding Rehearsals (2021-2024), this resulted in the project the wasp and the weather (2018-2020), in which he again worked on a collection of poems by young people from the first self-organized anti-racist youth center Rzoezie in Flanders. In 2020, Vanbesien founded The Post Film Collective together with Mahammed Alimu, Marcus Bergner, Hooman Jalidi, Sawsan Maher, Mirra Markhaëva and Elli Vassalou: a horizontal platform of seven filmmakers with different means and a different access to artistic production, emphasizing film as a form of speculative reporting and community building.
Vanbesien’s first feature-length documentary, hold on to her, premiered at the 74th Berlinale Forum Expanded (2024). Exhibitions, screenings and other events that form part of his multifaceted artistic practice include: transmediale, HKW (Berlin), Cinéma du Réel (Paris), Contour 9 Biennale (Mechelen), Athens Biennale, Sculpture International Rotterdam, WIELS (Brussels), Lumiar Cité (Lisbon), Videograms (Vilnius), Arsenal Institut (Berlin), Objectif Exhibitions (Antwerp), Extra City (Antwerp), Kaaitheater (Brussels), Beursschouwburg (Brussels), Netwerk (Aalst), FOMU (Antwerp), Teatro Maria Matos (Lisbon), Vooruit/Viernulvier (Ghent), BUDA (Kortrijk), Tënk, Fondation d’entreprise Ricard (Paris), Drop City (Newcastle Upon Tyne). In 2022, Vanbesien curated the study circle Ciné Place-Making at the Kaaitheater (Brussels); in 2017, he published the book Solidarity Poiesis: I Will Come and Steal You. He is a lecturer and PhD candidate at the Sint Lucas School of Arts in Antwerp.