Community exchange with youth of Al Haouz, Arwa and Turab of Other Cinemas, and Fayçal Lahrouchi
*This is closed community event
Arwa Aburawa and Turab Shah are independent filmmakers and cofounders of Other Cinemas – a community cinema and school in London’s Kilburn Neighbourhood. We were lucky enough to share their contemplative and grounded work And Still it Remains which explores legacies of climate colonialism in our Autumn edition of Harvest Festival last year.
This year they join us across both editions exploring alongside us the theme of a politics of listening, a theme which the screening and discussions around their film inspired.
As part of their exchange with us they are offering DIY filmmaking workshops to youth in both Al Haouz and Dar Bellarj working with accessible tools such as the phone.
The idea is to have both groups eventually exchange each other’s films, getting to see a day in the life of both of their environments.
The Al Haouz exchange builds on our sound documentary Life in the Orchards, made by our colleague Fayçal Lahrouchi, with Kevin Le Dortz accompanying visuals. Fayçal spent some time with our High Atlas communities after the earthquake, with those who had relocated to the apple orchards seeking safety. The work is a direct line to the heart of the communities integrity, their spiritual and material connections to the land and their determination to stay. It is a love letter to the cultural landscapes of Morocco and those who are its stewards.
This exchange with Arwa and Turab takes us back to the community to continue those conversations, catch up on life in the orchards and hear from youth about their own perspectives on life in Al Haouz post earthquake through their own storytelling.
Other Cinemas is a Brent-based project established by the filmmaking duo Turab Shah and Arwa Aburawa who saw the need for better and more equitable ways of film-making, sharing, and education. Seeing these three strands as inseparable, our work attempts to create a vital and holistic alternative to the industry that addresses its racial and class biases. Their work is rooted in our diverse neighbourhoods in northwest London, some of the most racially diverse in the country but chronically underserved in terms of cultural provisions.