Screening with 2024 Expanding North Residency Resident Niya Ahmed Abdullahi

 

July 4, 2024

The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) presents:
MEDITATIONS ON HOME
SCREENING WITH 2024 EXPANDING NORTH RESIDENCY RESIDENT NIYA AHMED ABDULLAHI

Join the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) on Thursday, July 18, 2024, at 7:00 pm with a screening of four works from our Expanding North Residency Resident, Niya Ahmed Abdullahi. Abdullahi will be presenting a work in progress edit of her newest short film, followed by three short films surrounding themes of identity, home, and belonging.

Films:

“For Black Muslim Girls” (2024)
8 minutes
“For Black Muslim Girls explores the social nuances behind identity expression and what it takes to fall back in love with yourself.

“Tie Your Camel and Trust in God” (2022)
12 minutes
An ethereal experimental documentary that explores the concept of faith for Muslims with severe mental illnesses.

“In The Whiteness” (2023)
5 minutes
“In the Whiteness” is a poetic exploration of identity through the eyes of a Harari woman, displaced via war, now living in Canada. She uses poetry and movement as a meditative method of reconnecting with her roots and in doing so, establishes a magical bond with her ancestors.

Thursday, July 18, 2024
Starts at 7:00 pm
Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT)
1137 Dupont Street, Main Classroom
Admission: Pay-What-You-Can (Suggested $5.00)

Join us afterwards for a short Q&A with the filmmaker.

Niya Ahmed Abdullahi is a filmmaker, multidisciplinary artist, and the founder of Habasooda, a collective dedicated to sharing the richness of the Muslim experience. Themes of identity, liberation and resistance inform her work in film which have screened at TIFF Next Wave, Nordisk Ungdom Film Festival, NFFTY, Black Film Festival Zurich, Trinidad and Tobago Film Festival, amongst others. She was a 2021 Hot Docs Accelerator Fellow and sits on the Advisory committee for the Nia Centre of the Arts’ “Blackout” project and the City of Toronto’s ArtworksTO program. Her art is personal, often drawing from her experiences as a first-generation Harari woman raised on Turtle Island, to tell stories through analogue and digital video, textile, and poetry. Her work evokes memory, both past, present and future, in connection with diasporic experiences, and ancestral awakenings. Pillars of resistance are drawn through her divine labour of love.

This residency opportunity is presented in collaboration with Baltic Analog Lab (BAL), Filmverkstaden, and Polar Film Lab and is funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers’ Nordic Culture Point.

 

 

Nordic Culture Point is an institution of the Nordic Council of Ministers which works to support Nordic co-operation within the area of culture and to increase awareness of Nordic culture in Finland. https://www.nordiskkulturkontakt.org/en

Baltic Analog Lab (BAL) is an artist collective and filmlab based in Riga, Latvia. It was founded in 2016. Uniting filmmakers and photographers interested in analog film and photography, Baltic Analog Lab aims to produce, teach and inspire an audience by providing a space for creation, learning and teaching. It is equipped for shooting, processing, editing and screening of 16mm and 8mm film, and also for analog photography. There are two darkrooms, one studio area for work and one dark screening space. The high focus of the lab is education and collaboration; this is maintained by regular workshops led by BAL members and foreigner guests. It also includes film screenings and expanded cinema events. https://www.balticanaloglab.lv

Filmverkstaden is an artist-run filmlab and darkroom in Vaasa, Finland. We do motion picture 35mm, 16mm, S8 and still photography in different formats. https://www.filmverkstaden.fi

Polar Film Lab is an analogue film Lab in Tromsø providing working facilities and a network around analogue filmmaking. https://polarfilmlab.com/en

The Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) is Canada’s foremost artist-run production and education organization dedicated to celebrating excellence in the moving image. 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. LIFT is supported by its membership, Canada Council for the Arts, Ontario Arts Council, Ontario Trillium Foundation, Ontario Arts Foundation, the Government of Ontario and the Toronto Arts Council.
https://lift.ca

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For additional information please see https://lift.ca or e-mail LIFT’s Summer Conference and Meeting Planner Poppi Fella Pellegrino at ppellegrino@lift.ca

 

Thursday 18 July 2024, 19:00 to 20:30

Non-members: Pay-What-You-Can (Suggested $5.00)
Members: Pay-What-You-Can (Suggested $5.00)

Location:
Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto (LIFT) 
1137 Dupont Street 
Toronto Ontario