Tales of Transnational Exchange
Location(s)
Three documentaries record transnational exchanges of works using film to foster and record trans-national exchanges of family history, identity and culture.
Filmmakers Louise Akanlu, Aghigh Ebrahimi Bazaz, Pamela A. Hooks and Gabriel Bienczycki in person.
Louise Akanlu’s Shifting Sands examines the dimensions and contexts of “reverse missions” as it relates to changing trends in Christian missionary activities seen through the work and experiences of a West African cleric in the Rectory of St. Isaac Jouges, Valley Forge, Pa. The documentary highlights the filmmaker’s family and community’s encounter with white catholic missionaries in West Africa at the turn of the 19th century.
Conversations With My Aunt by Aghigh Ebrahimi Bazaz A visual reflection on divorce a poetic critique on gender inequality in Iran.
In Search of Mali Sadjo: Kùlú Mèlé’s African Dance Expedition (2009, 30 min), directed by Pamela A. Hooks and Gabriel Bienczycki, follows Philadelphia’s Kùlú Mèlé African Dance and Drum Ensemble as they travel to Conakry, Guinea to immerse themselves in that country’s culture and work with internationally recognized artists from Les Ballets Africaines.