Border Documents: A scholarly/activist workshop on the crossings of borders and documentary films

6. november 2009

Border Documents is the third in a series of events run as part of the international research network Beyond Borders.

In “Border Documents” (Copenhagen Nov 2009) we will join the CPH.DOX documentary film festival to consider the border as it unfolds in time/screen based media – what does thinking about border activism and the telematic offer us? Possible topics include the border in television news, the in-focus out of focus role of CCTV in detention centres, the scanning screens of the immigration check, the civilian phone-cam exposé of deportation and ‘Torture Taxi’ (special rendition) flights, and more.

We are interested in new perspectives on the status and function of the documentary forms today, as they cross the ontological divide between fiction and truth, art and reality (objective/subjective, social, political, ethical etc) and frame alternative ways of seeing, witnessing, representing, archiving and experiencing ‘the elements of truth’ (Steyerl, 2003). Can we understand documentation not as paper passports or mere representation but as docketing the (re)construction of (new) social and political realities – we are interested in time and screen formats that offer access to critical recontextualization of the reproduction of borders, and of unfolding new agents of social and political (ex)change. On a more formalistic note, how does the documentary form carry a politic, an ethics or epistemology and how can the documentary film help us see and act differently? Does the time of the border transform its place, or its performative character? Does border activism lend itself to the cinematic? Can we film another way across?

Beyond Borders is a collaborative venture between the Copenhagen Doctoral School in Cultural Studies, the Friei University Berlin InterArts, Jadavpur University (India) Film Studies and the Centre for Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths University of London, and with guest participation from Clandestino Festival (Sweden) and Migrant Media (UK), among others. Beyond Borders is funded by the AHRC UK Beyond Text program.

PROGRAM

Monday 9th November 2009
Venue: Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi Kongens Nytorv 1, 1050 København K (The seminar is free)

11.30-12.00
Prof Frederik Tystrup & Prof John Hutnyk:
‘Introduction’ to “Border Documents”

12.00-13.30 (Room: Den gule resilit)
Lecture by Mathias Danbolt:
‘Queers Without Borders: Activist Travels in Elliat Graney-Saucke’s Travel Queeries’.
 Presentation and screening by Maria Finn: ‘A Technical Problem’ (DVD, 16. min).

13.30-15.00 Lunch break

15.00-16.30 (Room: Den gule resilit)

Lecture by Dr Hito Steyerl: ‘Border performed’ On 3 recent video art works, parts of which will be screened (Amar Kanwar’s “A season outside”, plus work by von Wedemeyer and Mik) and discussed in relation to their relation to border and performance.

17.00-19.00 (CPH:DOX Lounge Tent, in the Courtyard of the Art Academy)
European Premiere screening of Musafer: Sikhi is Travelling with Q@A with one of the directors Kushwant Singh (the other director is Michael Nijhawan)

Musafer is an independent documentary film that has been shot in Frankfurt, Paris, London, Delhi and San Francisco between 2003 and 2009. The film portrays the interconnected lives of a younger generation of diasporic Sikhs by giving emphasis to their artistic expressions and in-depth conversations about the meaning of Sikhi in times of political upheaval and social uncertainty. Musafer does not attempt to portray the Sikh tradition (Sikhi) in its multifaceted forms, but instead sheds a light on the inner and outer journeys of particular individuals, their homing desires, as well as their boundary crossing endeavours.

Tuesday 10th November
Venue: Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi Kongens Nytorv 1, 1050 København K (The seminar is free)

11.00–13.00 (Room: Den gule resilit)

‘Borders and Selves’
Heidi Hasbrouck:
‘Personal Borders: The Filmmaker’s Family through the Lens’

Elena Papadaki:
‘Even better than the real thing: when fiction becomes more convincing than the truth – Stefanos Tsivopoulos’ documentaries’


13.00 Lunch break

15.00-16.30 (Room: Den gule resilit)

‘Verité Border’
Ray Ganz:
‘Radio Verité and Acoustic Osmosis’

Jennifer Otter:
‘[Dancing In] Isolation: Joy Division Tribute Bands Transmission of 2.0’s Melancholy’


17.00-19.00 (Room: Den gule resilit)
Lecture by Dr Bhaskar Mukhophadhyay:
‘Ritwik Ghatak Documentarist’
 Lecture by Abhijit Roy:
‘Documentary Diversions? Factual Popular and the Reality Debates’


19.00 Dinner break

20.00 (Festsalen)
European Premiere screening of Understanding Trafficking plus Q&A with the director Ananya Chatterjee Chakraborti

Legend goes, there is a magical line that Laxman drew around Sita, which no woman is supposed to cross. If any woman dared to cross the magical line, she would risk being kidnapped by Ravan the demon.
Women have for centuries been discouraged to cross the line, to remain indoors, and within limits. The lines and limits of their existence have always been defined by patriarchy.
So what happens if a woman does cross the line? By circumstances, through need, or just by a desire to dare the magical line?
Camera Joydeep Bose, Sound Sukanta Majumdar, Editing Saikat Sekhareswar Ray, Direction Ananya C. Chakraborti
Reviews here: http://www.cinemawoman.in/review.html

Wednesday 11 November
Venue: Det Kongelige Danske Kunstakademi Kongens Nytorv 1, 1050 København K (The seminar is free)

11.00–11.30 (Room: Den gule resilit)
Ruth Hogarth (Beyond Text Program Co-Ordinator): ‘The Wider Program’
Mary Claire Halvorson (Goldsmiths Director of Professional Development): ‘Alterity, mobility and rhizomatic model of learning’

11.30–13.30 (Room: Den gule resilit)
Dr Dietmar Kammerer:
‘Official, unofficial, invisible – the role of the filmic document in “Operation Spring”’

Renate Wöhrer:
‘How (Not) to Be Seen. Contemporary Attempts in Social Documentary to Contradict Hegemonic Discourses on Labour’


13.30 Lunch break

15.00-17.30 (Room: Den gule resilit)
Raul Gschrey: ‘Between Fact and Fiction. Artistic Works on Visual Surveillance’
All: Discussion of the Future of Beyond Borders.