United screens:
Rushes #1

For the opening session of our Rushes series, we invite filmmaker and artist Jihan El-Tahri, technologist and educationalist Tunde Giwa, curator and writer Bonaventure Ndikung as well as designer, coder and new media artist Juan Pablo García Sossa to unpack the concepts of technology, collectivity and space from the intersections of their respective practices. What should the networks and technology we use look like and what interests and needs do we need to accommodate? We are looking forward to learning from their anecdotes on appropriation of technologies for cinema circulation where larger bandwidths and expensive hardware is a luxury. What informal film distribution ecosystems have shaped the experiences and realities of the Tropics?[1] How can we explore new high-tech possibilities through the lense of analog and low-tech practices? And does the accelerated speed of interconnectedness formulate a new cinematic language/aesthetic, also freed from regressive regionalities and worn-out tropes?  

Rushes are programmed virtual conversations hosted by the UNITED SCREENS network and its affiliates, based in varied parts of the world and contexts. Curated by the individual host spaces, we invite film practitioners and technologists to reflect on and beyond the questions posed previously. Through these moderated virtual conversations we are hoping to learn from different contexts and practices of resistances, subversions, appropriations, cooperations, documentations, financing and accomplishments to integrate these learnings into working towards a decentralized cinema circulation ecosystem. Between each Rushes, we would encourage the audience to send us feedback and questions that will be incorporated into the programming of the content as well. All of these learnings will be the prelude to the physical programme envisioned to bring these voices together in a physical space to forge in discussions, workshops, symposia, screenings over the course of 2021/2022 on how we can collectively shape reality.

Jihan El-Tahri is a multi- award-winning film director, writer, visual artist and producer. She currently serves as the General Director of the Berlin based documentary support institution DOX BOX. Jihan has been a member of The Academy (Oscars) since 2017. She has directed more than 15 films and her visual art exhibitions have travelled to renowned museums and several Biennales around the world. She continues to mentor in various documentary and filmmaking labs. Jihan has served on the boards of several African film organisations including the Federation of Pan African Cinema and The Guild of African Filmmakers in the Diaspora.

Juan Pablo García Sossa  is a designer, researcher and artist fascinated by the clash between emerging technologies and popular culture in tropical areas. His practice explores how emerging technologies are remixed and reappropriated in tropical areas and develop alternate understandings and systems. He researches and develops future and alternate realities with real and semi fictional organizations in a wide range of media such as graphics, interfaces, web, installation, and other visual experiments. He explores ways of sensibilization through narrative experiences of interaction – and envision tropical futures.

Tunde Giwa is passionate about technology, higher education, content creation, and distribution. He believes that simple technologies and processes, expertly integrated, can solve everyday problems, promote efficiency, and enhance one’s overall quality of life. As CEO and co-founder of Orchestrated Solutions Inc. — a for-profit social enterprise — Tunde assists educational institutions across Africa to rapidly transform themselves by providing affordable technologies and related services to enhance teaching, learning and campus operations.  For nearly two decades, Tunde served as the Chief Technology Officer at the Juilliard School in New York City where he was responsible for all aspects of academic, administrative, and performance technologies.  During his tenure, he guided the institution’s transition from a high-touch, paper-based environment to one that featured cutting-edge automation and innovative web technologies. 

Tunde is an avid NBA fan who resides with his family in the people’s republic of Brooklyn and can be reached via email at tundegiwa@gmail.com or on Linkedin.

Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung​​​​​  is a curator, author, and biotechnologist. He is the founder and artistic director of SAVVY Contemporary. He was curator-at-large for documenta 14 in Athens and Kassel and guest curator of the 2018 Dak’Art Biennale in Senegal, and together with the Miracle Workers Collective he curated the Finland Pavilion at the Venice Biennale in 2019. He was the artistic director of the 12th Bamako Encounters – African Biennale of Photography 2019.He has been appointed as the artistic director of Sonsbeek 2020, a quadrennial contemporary art exhibition in Arnhem, the Netherlands. Beginning with the fall semester in 2020, he will be professor at Kunsthochschule Weißensee.