Berliner Korrespondenzen: Nothing About Us Without Us

Debate with Sahraa Karimi, Eyal Weizman and Sonia Nandzik

World Premiere: Nothing About Us Without Us, a documentary short film by Refocus Media Labs

With a video call to co-directors Yaser Akbari and Nazanin Foroghi

Break-Up, the 2021-22 edition of Berliner Korrespondenzen, looks at the tensions and cracks in the social fabric of post-Covid Europe, asking how younger generations organize protest, voice discontent, take responsibility and imagine alternative futures. To really engage with the next generations’ dreams and grievances, each event combines the screening of an exclusive documentary short film by talented filmmakers with intense debates featuring high-profile thinkers, artists and activists.

This edition’s opening event starts with the world premiere of Nothing About Us Without Us by Refocus Media Labs, a collective of refugee filmmakers from Lesvos, Greece. The film asks questions: how can asylum seekers tell their own stories, counter stereotypical media images and shape the political debate in Europe? After the disastrous retreat of the NATO forces from Afghanistan, European politicians quickly resorted to familiar patterns of fearmongering against a possible new movement of refugees. However, the people directly affected and those who have long suffered from EU migration policies had little influence on this political discourse. It seems that little has changed since 2015.

In the ensuing debate, prize-winning Afghan filmmaker and activist Sahraa Karimi, renowned researcher and human rights defender Eyal Weizman and Sonia Nandzik from Refocus Media Labs will discuss how images can influence politics, how we can practice solidarity in times of humanitarian crises and how the subjects of media reports can become the authors of their own stories. In order to not only talk about, but also with those at the heart of the discussions, the film’s co-directors Yaser Akbari and Nazanin Foroghi will be connected via video live from Levos. Circumstances permitting, another member of the collective will be on stage.

We also braodcast the event via livestream. 

Concept & design visual: Keller & Lieder

Berliner Korrespondenzen is a series from the Gorki Forum and Allianz Kulturstiftung, in collaboration with the Humboldt Universität Berlin and sponsored by the Federal Foreign Office.