Goethe-Institut Toronto and LIFT Masterclass – Emotional Landscapes in Film with Antonia Kilian
Goethe-Institut Toronto and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT)
present an online masterclass with documentary filmmaker Antonia Kilian exploring Emotional Landscapes in Film.
Co-presented with Toronto Arab Film (TAF)
The Goethe-Institut Toronto and the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) are delighted to present a two-part online masterclass with Kassel and Berlin-based documentary filmmaker Antonia Kilian.
Part 1: Artist Talk
Thursday, May 19, 2022 from 1:00pm – 2:00pm ET
Registration limited to 50.
Free for everyone
Register for Artist Talk ONLY here: https://lift.ca/workshop-registration/?event=988&workshopcat=8
Part 2: Two-Part Facilitated Workshop
Thursday, May 19 2022 from 2:00pm – 3:00pm ET
Friday, May 20, 2022 from 1:00pm – 4:00pm ET
Registration limited to 10
Free for LIFT Members / $20.00 for Non-Members
Register for the Artist Talk and Facilitated Workshop here: https://lift.ca/workshop-registration/?event=937&workshopcat=8
Registrants will receive two separate zoom links an hour before the event is to begin. One for the artist talk and for those who registered, one for the facilitated workshop. We will take a five minute break in between Part 1 and Part 2 to allow folks to get ready.
Kilian is the director of the 2021 film “The Other Side of the River,” a powerful documentary that grew out of the time that she lived in Rojava, a Kurdish area in the Northeast of Syria. The resulting film was a collaboration with the Kurdish Women’s movement and a local film team. The film follows 19-year-old Hala who crossed the Euphrates River to escape a forced marriage and her Islamic State (IS) supporting family. She finds shelter in a military academy where she is trained with a weapon to free other women in danger. After the Kurdish military takes over her city from IS, she returns to free her sisters from her parents’ house.
Part 1: In her introductory Artist Talk, Kilian will expand on this collective effort and speak to how she developed a trusting relationship with her subjects in the shadow of war.
Part 2: The presentation is a two-day Facilitated Workshop for those interested in delving further into Antonia’s creative process, which will explore her visual storytelling approach. There will be a limited number of spots available for Part 2.
Day 1 of the facilitated workshop will focus closer on some scene examples from “The Other Side of the River.” Each close reading will explore a different emotional landscape of oppression and empowerment. To decide what qualifies as an emotional landscape can be one of the biggest challenges in storytelling. The facilitated workshop will ask the participants to understand and analyze the different tools we have to visualize emotional worlds and how Antonia uses them throughout “The Other Side of the River.”
Following the Day 1 of the facilitated workshop the participants will be tasked with working on visualizing emotional landscapes of oppression and empowerment (either with or without human beings, animals, plants or without living beings at all, for example just rooms). To prepare, the participants will be asked to consider what emotions they connect to oppression and empowerment and which of them they want to explore in the homework assignment. Different visual approaches will be discussed in relation to the emotions that they seek to convey.
Day 2 of the facilitated workshop, the group will present their results of the assignment and together will analyze and discuss the experience of creating these short scenes.
In advance of the event, registrants of both the Artist Talk and the Facilitated Workshop will receive an online preview link to watch the film.
If you have any questions about the Artist Talk and Facilitated Workshop, feel free to email LIFT Development Coordinator Cayley James at development@lift.on.ca
Subject Heading: Goethe-Institut Toronto and LIFT with Antonia Kilian
Antonia Kilian is a director, cinematographer and producer based between Kassel and Berlin. She studied visual communication as well as art and media at the Berlin University of the Arts, the Potsdam Babelsberg Film University and at the ISA in Havana, Cuba. She works as a Director of Photography for feature and documentary films. For her directorial debut “The Other Side of the River” about Hala’s struggle for self-determination, she shot for over a year in the Kurdish areas called “Rojava” in northeast Syria. She developed “The Other Side of the River” within ExOriente, IDFA Academy Summer School and Baltic Sea Forum.“The Other Side of the River” won the Hessian Film Award as well as 11 other awards at international festivals. It was selected for the European Film Academy Award 2021 and for the German Film Award (LOLA) 2022. With her latest production “Exile Never Ends” she participated in EURODOC 2022. Her production company Pink Shadow Films is based in Kassel, Germany. Antonia is a member of: AG Dok, Pro Quote Film, Documentary Association Europe (DAE), European Women’s Audiovisual Network (EWA women). https://www.antoniakilian.com | https://www.pinkshadowfilms.com
The Goethe-Institut is the Federal Republic of Germany’s cultural institute, active worldwide. We promote the study of German abroad and encourage international cultural exchange. To learn more about Goethe-Institut Toronto’s film programming head to https://blog.goethe.de/arthousefilm
Toronto Arab Film (TAF) is the first festival of its kind in Toronto, focused on presenting and promoting pan-Arab films by Arab filmmakers from all over the world. The third edition of the festival will be taking place May 26-29, 2022 in-person and online. https://www.arabfilm.ca
The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) is an artist-run charitable organization dedicated to facilitating excellence in the moving image through media arts education and production resources. LIFT exists to provide support and encouragement for independent filmmakers and artists through affordable access to production, post-production and exhibition equipment; professional and creative development; workshops and courses; commissioning and exhibitions; artist residencies; and a variety of other services. Founded in 1981 by a small collective, LIFT has since grown to become one of the foremost centres of its kind globally. https://lift.ca
Thursday 19 May 2022 –
Non-members: $20.00 for Facilitated Workshop
Members: Free for LIFT members
Location:
Online