The Same Track: Preview Screening

Eastside Projects is an artist run multiverse, commissioning, producing and presenting experimental art practices and demonstrating ways in which art may be useful as part of society.

Eastside Projects

Eastside Projects, Film Birmingham, and Mockingbird Cinema present Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi's 'The Same Track'.

The Mockingbird Cinema

The Same Track is a new video work by Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi that uses archival footage of Commonwealth Games athletes, spectators, and administrators cut together with images of economic and promotional activity in various British colonies and Commonwealth states. Through symbolic juxtapositions of scenes from different eras, the work highlights both transformation and stasis through time. The Same Track draws attention to the idea that the Games, including in its current iteration, is implicated in an ongoing political project centuries in the making.At this preview screening, Thenjwe&#x27;s film will be shown alongside new and recent short films made by five local filmmakers. The programme will be followed by an open discussion, hosted by Adjei Sun, and featuring a panel of local creatives, community workers, and organisers.PROGRAMME<ul><li>Canaan Brown: The Naval Spirit (2022)</li><li>Fabio Calundungo: Fly or Die (2021)</li><li>Brandon Orgill: We Need a Resolution (2018)</li><li>Jaz Morrison: EARTHSTRONG (2022)</li><li>Gugan Gill: Stories From Home (2022)</li><li>Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi&#x27;s The Same Track &amp; Commentary (2022)</li></ul>The Same Track is part of Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi&#x27;s multi-site video and multimedia artwork titled <a href="https://eastsideprojects.org/projects/equations-for-a-body-at-rest/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Equations for a Body at Rest</a>, which tracks the history and symbolic presentation of the Commonwealth Games, and by association, the Commonwealth body itself, from its genesis in empire to the current day.This is the first event in a series of screenings - find out more about the full programme <a href="https://eastsideprojects.org/events/screening-the-same-track/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">HERE</a>.This screening is part of Eastside Projects’ programme for Birmingham 2022 Festival. Thenjiwe&#x27;s project is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund, Arts Council England and British Council. The Community Screening programme is supported by Film Hub Midlands.Special thanks to Bertz Associates, BRMTWN, Film Birmingham &amp; Mockingbird Cinema.

<h3>HOST</h3><a href="https://instagram.com/adjeisun" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Adjei Sun</a> (also known as a.sun) is a poet, storyteller, and community organiser based in Birmingham. He began performing poetry at 15 in 2016. In 2021, he performed for TEDx Youth Birmingham. In 2022, Adjei performed internationally at the Dubai World Expo. As an organiser Adjei has been producing events for more than three years, to engage young people in Birmingham in causes around them. In 2022, he began a community storytelling project which creates a safe space involving the use of the arts and discussion to open conversations around masculinity, gender and mental health. In the last three years, Adjei Sun has been using his platform to create concerts and events which support causes in inner-city Birmingham such as mental health, inclusive youth projects, and anti-knife and gun violence.<h3>PANELLISTS</h3>
NOTE: panellists are creatives, researchers, and community organisers from various backgrounds; the opinions and political leanings of the panellists do not necessarily reflect that of the host, filmmakers, organisers, and funders.<a href="https://instagram.com/lexialegend" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Lexia Tomlinson</a> (she/her) is a Poet, Actor, Spoken Word Artist/Creative Facilitator and Editor. A Jack of all trades who's often better than the master of one. She delivers captivating performances and workshops.Her work engages audiences with its unabashed honesty wrapped up in metaphors; she loves writing about life's personal and socio-political issues. Her central ethos is "the social is political, and the political is social, but everything is personal". She has just finished leading a B22 festival project called Hear My Voice; centring around members of the elder generation in Birmingham exploring what the commonwealth means to them. Lexia is also currently directing a play with Primary school students of the Birmingham Community based on Weightlifting/commonwealth Heroes Precious Mckenzie And Emily Campbell. <a href="https://instagram.com/hyperhas" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Hasan K</a> (he/him) describes himself as a ‘pro-people activist’, with a focus on Kashmiri resistance, and environmental awareness. Also a performance-based artist, Hasan utilises poetry, acting, and music. He works outdoors teaching bushcraft and survival skills.A Political Science and International Relations graduate, and University of Birmingham alumnus, Hasan’s focuses are the study of decolonisation and "other" perspectives, focusing on orientalism; decolonising the Islamic frameworks and representations; the decolonisation of global spiritual practices; economic disparities and corruption; soft/hard power politics; and the western gaze forced as the default Global perspective. <a href="https://linktr.ee/courtenaywelcome" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Courtenay Welcome</a> (she/her) is an artist, activist, creative director, and critical thinker - from Birmingham with interests in the senses, love, decolonisation, memory, identity, and how these things change through space and time. These internal theories materialize in painting, installation, text and performance. <a href="https://linktr.ee/vikchandla" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Vik Chandla</a> (they/he) is an artist, designer and activist from the Black Country. Co-founder of the South Asian Arts Collective, and with a background in the Midlands' vibrant graffiti scene, they've focused on public art in recent years: "Art should be accessible to everyone, so where better than the street? Free of the grandiosity of traditional galleries, public art belongs to the public and not wealthy art dealers who use it to launder money, or institutions who as hard as they try can never really engage people on a grassroots level. It meets them where they're at and transforms their everyday environment."<h3>FILMMAKERS</h3>
NOTE: filmmakers are from various backgrounds, and explore various themes in their films. None of the films feature profanity, sex, gore, or flashing lights; however, some may have mildly upsetting images (e.g. crying; people scared). 
Any opinions or agendas expressed in the films do not necessarily reflect that of the host, panellists, organisers, and funders.<a href="https://thenjiwenkosi.com/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Thenjiwe Niki Nkosi </a>(b.1980, she/her) was raised in New York, Harare and Johannesburg, where she now lives. She obtained her BA from Harvard University and her MFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York. Nkosi divides her time between studio work, performance, and navigating the field of art as social practice. <a href="https://instagram.com/calungz" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Fábio Calundungo</a> (he/him) is an Angolan-Portuguese filmmaker based in Birmingham. A recent Film and Animation graduate, Calundungo is passionate about the visual language of film, and its role in storytelling. He organises shoots for principal photography, operates cameras, directs, and edits, with a particular focus on drama shorts, comedy sketches, and mockumentaries.<a href="https://canaanjbrown.cargo.site/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Canaan Brown</a> (he/him) is an artist and designer, currently studying at Birmingham City University, and working as an Emerging Artist with Legacy West Midlands. Brown strives to advocate, exemplify, and inspire Black excellence through his art and design practice. Using film, writing, and digital media, as well as sculpture, painting, and installation, Brown employs diverse media to tell stories through his work - highlighting, celebrating, and speculating on histories, modernities, and futures. Brown recently won the Inspirational Student of the Year Award, at Birmingham City University, and was awarded as a finalist for the Black Heritage Undergraduate of the Year Award, 2022. <a href="https://instagram.com/bran_orgill" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Brandon Orgill</a> (he/him) is a West-Midlands-based filmmaker with an interest in crafting realistic stories covering true topics and events, focusing more on youth culture in the UK.<a href="https://jazmor.com" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Jaz Morrison</a> (she/her) is a writer and multidisciplinary (but mainly visual) artist, exploring themes of history, social space, sustainability, and Afrofuturism. Her practice employs performance, filmmaking, collage, and storytelling. For Jaz, it's all about sense- and memory-making.<a href="https://instagram.com/gugan.gill" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">Gugan Gill</a>’s (she/they) work can be considered a visual and poetic exploration of home, identity and time and place through the lens of feminism. Her practice-based approach to making revolves around documenting and radical (re)learning; reflecting on the wonders of everyday, capturing a sense of domestic feminism and the life story.

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The Same Track: Preview Screening

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