(Aberystwyth) Gobaith ac Ofn; Dwy Sgriniad/ Hope and Fear; Two Screenings

Sara Penrhyn Jones is a filmmaker and a research fellow affiliated with Bath Spa University. Shelagh Hourahane is an artist and consultant for artistic projects in the community.

Sara Penrhyn Jones and Shelagh Hourahane

Perhaps we used to think of climate change as being something that happens in far-flung places, and in the distant future. We might also have a tendency to think of 'the environment' or its challenges as somehow separate to ourselves and our social or cultural lives. Yet, many of us have by now experienced extreme weather on our own doorsteps in West Wales, so how do we make sense of this? Rapid environmental change can be very disorientating for our own sense of who- or even where- we are. Does it affect our feelings about the future, and the places that we are attached to, and how do we navigate between unrealistic hope and crippling fear?  Please join us for two film screenings, to see some recognisable locations made strange, with an opportunity for you to ask questions of the filmmakers, and offer your own response. Shelagh Hourahane, from Creu-Ad will also be there to steer the discussion. 
TIMELINE (30mins) by Sara Penrhyn Jones explores some of these ideas in a very personal voice. Travelling through Greenland's melting landscapes, and also through the low lying island nation Kiribati, in the Pacific Ocean, it is clear that, in the words of scientist Arwyn Edwards: 'Bad things are coming'. Aberystwyth promenade is trashed by giant waves, caravans are overturned and a local man comments that 'everything is topsy-turvy'. Can a journey through the darkest themes be poetic too, offering hope, beauty, and a renewed appreciation of community?
Nick Jones, Anne Marie Carty and Dafydd Sills-Jones have worked with the local community to produce a film and soundscape, Y Gors, about Cors Fochno, the internationally important raised bog that occupies the a significant position in the psyche of the locality, as well as the logistical discussions around water and land management. Who has rights over land, and who takes responsibility? If the bog had a voice, how would it sound and what would it say to us?
This creative work was made possible by funding through two different Arts and Humanities Research Council  (AHRC) projects: 'Troubled Waters', and 'Towards Hydrocitizenship'. This event is part of the Being Human festival, the UK’s only national festival of the humanities, taking place 17–25 November. Led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership with the Arts &amp; Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. For further information please see www.beinghumanfestival.org/ @BeingHumanFest.
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