Panel Discussion: Sisterhood

Raven Row

A panel discussion as part of 'PerAnkh – The June Givanni PanAfrican Cinema Archive'.

<h1><strong>Sisterhood</strong></h1><h2><strong>With Suzanne Scafe (chair), Sindamani Bridglal, Haja Fanta, Wangui wa Goro and Ruhi Hamid</strong></h2><p>This intergenerational panel explores the importance of Black women’s professionalism and activism in filmmaking as significant aspects of  the development of Black independent film in the UK,  the African diaspora and on the African continent in the 1980s – a time when Black women’s organisations and voices in the UK were strident in many creative spheres. Black female directors, writers and curators share their experiences  of producing their work, and bringing Black women’s experiences into the cinematic frame.</p><p>T﻿he discussion will take place in Raven Row&#x27;s lower gallery space, which is wheelchair-accessible from Frying Pan Alley.  Please contact Rhian Smith at rhian@ravenrow.org with any questions about event accessibility.</p><p></p><p>Image: <em>Identifiable Qualities</em>, 1988 (directed and produced by Sindamani Bridglal). Courtesy of Sindamani Bridglal.</p>

<h1>B﻿iographies</h1><h2></h2><h2>S﻿uzanne Scafe (chair)</h2><p><strong>Suzanne Scafe</strong> was a member of Brixton Black Women&#x27;s Group and The Organisation of Women of African and Asian Descent (OWAAD) and is co-author, with Beverley Bryan and Stella Dadzie, of the recently reissued The Heart of the Race (1985). During the 1980s she worked as a freelance writer for several publications, reviewing theatre and books. Her main role has been in education and she has taught for over 40 years, in all sectors in the UK and in the Caribbean. She has written extensively on literature in education and on African-diasporic women&#x27;s literature and culture. She is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of Brighton.</p><h2>Sindamani Bridglal</h2><p><strong>Sindamani Bridglal</strong> began her career in film and TV as a very young assistant editor on the film <em>South Africa Belongs to Us</em> (1980). She later graduated from the National Film and Television School (SCU) and worked on a variety of films as an assistant director, researcher, writer and producer in the UK, Netherlands and with Indian directors on their London shoots. She directed <em>Identifiable Qualities</em> (1988) – a film on the Nobel Prize Winner Toni Morrison, which is part of the exhibition <em>PerAnkh</em> – and <em>A View from the Shore</em>, a drama documentary on Columbus in the Caribbean. She is on the Elimu Mas Academy (Notting Hill Carnival) management team, has written for the <em>Observer Magazine</em>, and is a published poet.  She was a part of the Brixton Black Women’s group and is a contributor to the forthcoming book on the Group.</p><h2><strong>Haja Fanta</strong></h2><p><strong>Haja Fanta</strong> is a London-based curator, writer and researcher from Sierra Leone. She works with artists and institutions to deliver visual art exhibitions, projects and programmes. She has a particular interest in artistic and cultural production from Gambia, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Senegal and Sierra Leone, and in building creative connections between those cultures and the broader diaspora. In her practice, Fanta explores different approaches to curatorial production. During her MA in Arts and Cultural Enterprise, for example, she examined how incorporating sound and spatial design in curatorial practice can enhance levels of engagement and accessibility in contemporary art spaces. Fanta has previously developed projects with Southbank Centre, The Africa Centre, National Portrait Gallery and photographer Neil Kenlock. She currently works as a Studio Assistant at HOME by Ronan Mckenzie and is a member of artist collective SXWKS.</p><h2><strong>Wangui wa Goro</strong></h2><p><strong>Wangui wa Goro </strong>is a translator, writer, poet, academic, cultural curator and editor with a passion for languages, literature and intersectional freedom. She works in an international development organisation and also runs the international intercultural dialogues Africa in Translation (AiT) through SIDENSI. She has served in many academic and literary organisations, and on academic journals, magazines and prizes, including as the co-convenor of the Women’s Caucus of the African Studies Association and the deputy president of the African Literature Association (ALA). She is also a founding member of TRACALA, the Translation Caucus of the ALA and she serves on the executive committee of International Association of Translation Studies (IATIS). She has been recognised for her contribution to literature, including with an Honorary Professorship of Practice in Translation at SOAS and with a visiting professorship at King’s College London for her work in education and leadership. Her recent fiction has appeared in <em>New Daughters of Africa </em>(Myriad, 2019) edited by Margaret Busby, and her translation across African literatures in French, Italian, Kiswahili and Gikuyu include Ngũgĩ’s wa Thiong’o’s earlier work and Veronique Tadjo’s <em>As the Crow Flies </em>(Heinemann, 2001).</p><h2><strong>Ruhi Hamid</strong></h2><p>Born in Tanzania with an Asian background, <strong>Ruhi Hamid</strong> is an international award-winning documentary filmmaker. She sets out to help a new generation of filmmakers with an ambition to tell important human stories of people caught up in complex political or social conditions in our world today. She shares her passion and experience to demystify the creative roles that bring storytelling to life. Her documentaries are character-driven with strong narratives and she has a distinguished track record making films for the BBC, Channel 4 and Al Jazeera, as well as other American and European broadcasters. She has won several awards including a Rory Peck Award in 2005 for outstanding freelance journalists worldwide for her film on the aftermath of the Indonesian tsunami: At the Epicentre (2006).</p><h2></h2>

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Panel Discussion: Sisterhood

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