Protest in Movement

Short film program with Masahat og KORO

Protest i bevegelse Foto Elisa Bates Masahat

This short film program presents protest as an impetus and intention for art. Curating films that combine a strong criticality towards hegemonic violence that threatens both people and earth, the films are selected for the complexities of their oppositional arch of expression that combines the political and the intimate, the collective struggle and collective grief, with strong articulations of the values and the causes artists are fighting for.

The film program is part of a whole day artistic seminar on the theme of protest organised by KORO, Masahat and Kunstnernes Hus. The program includes both Norwegian and international artists, all of whom are concerned in different ways with building a solidarity movement.

Wednesday 19.03.25

hr. 18:00-19:00

Where

Cinema

Info

Registration is not required, but spaces are limited.

Click here to read more about the seminar

About the filmprogram

In a world increasingly shaped by conflict, inequality, and environmental crises, protest has become a vital form of expression and resistance. This short film program explores protest as both a catalyst and a medium for art, presenting works that confront systemic violence—against people, land, and ecosystems—while recognizing the power of collective action and individual courage. The selected films delve into the complexities of protest, weaving together the political and the personal, the collective and the intimate. They challenge hegemonic structures, amplify voices undergoing repression, and articulate the values and causes that artists and communities are fighting for. By combining sharp criticality with emotional depth, these films invite viewers to reflect on their own roles within systems of power and to imagine new possibilities for solidarity and change. Including two short films produced by Masahat, which interrogate the very notion of protest, this program highlights the multifaceted nature of resistance. These works do not merely document dissent; they embody it, offering nuanced perspectives on the struggles and hopes of communities often excluded from mainstream narratives.

Program

Angle of Incidence, Mira Adoumier, 2024, Norway, English, 4 min.
Algorithms of Suffocation, Islam Shabana, 2024, Egypt, English and Arabic, 7.31 min
Reading Light in Gaza, Jumana Manna, 2024, Palestine, English, 3 min.
You May Own the Lanterns but We Have the Light, Episode one: Home Alone, Haig Aivazian, Lebanon, Arabic with English subtitles, 12 min.
You May Own the Lanterns but We Have the Light, Episode two: Eyeshadow Dark as Night, Haig Aivazian, Lebanon, Arabic with English subtitles, 10.30 min.
A Night We Held Between, Noor Abed, Palestine, Arabic with English Subtitles, 30 mins.

About the artists

Noor Abed (b.1988 Jerusalem) is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker. Her practice examines notions of choreography and the imaginary relationship of individuals, creating situations where social possibilities are both rehearsed and performed. In 2020, she co-founded, with Lara Khaldi, the “School of Intrusions,” an educational platform in Ramallah, Palestine.

Mira Adoumier (b.1985, New York) is an Oslo-based Lebanese/French filmmaker Through her work with fictional short films and film essays, she explored characters living at the margins of in-between worlds, while also in parallel experimenting with the formal aspect of the image. Her first feature film, ERRANS premiered at CPH:DOX 2020 in the next:wave competition. She is part of the Camelia Committee (انا في الكاميليا), a collective that explores hybrid forms of writing for and in cinema.

Haig Aivazian: is an artist living in Beirut. Working across a range of media and modes of address, he delves into the ways in which power embeds, affects and moves people, objects, animals, landscape and architecture. Between 2020-2022, Aivazian was Artistic Director of the Beirut Art Center where he was founding editor of thederivative.org

Jumana Manna is a visual artist and filmmaker. Her work explores how power is articulated, focusing on the body, land and materiality in relation to colonial inheritances and histories of place. Through sculpture, filmmaking, and occasional writing, Manna deals with the paradoxes of preservation practices, particularly within the fields of architecture, agriculture and law. Her practice considers the tension between the modernist traditions of categorisation and conservation and the unruliness of ruination, life and its regeneration. Jumana was raised in Jerusalem and lives in Berlin.

Islam Shabana’s work is situated in the intersection of technology with Islamic philosophy, mythology and studies of human cognition. In his works, he explores concepts such as system-social dynamics, religious performative rituals and occult practices, by means of poetry, simulation, science fiction and speculative scenarios. Examining how different technologies are interweaving these concepts producing/reproducing entangling structures between myth, fiction, and physical realities.

About Masahat

Masahat is a non-profit organization established in 2015 in Norway with the purpose of curating and presenting knowledge, history, art and culture from the Middle East and North Africa with a special focus on the Arab world. Masahat brings forward the activism and hope that was sparked by the Arab Spring to create unique spaces in Norway facilitating non-hierarchical exchange of expertise, ideas, art and inspiration. We periodically change the focus of our activities to feature underrepresented expert and artistic voices from the Middle East in events such as art exhibitions, panel debates, film screenings, reading circles, expert seminars, concerts and conferences. This discursive program is a collaboration between Masahat and KORO, with support from Fritt Ord, Oslo Kommune and Kulturrådet.

Directed by

Mira Adoumier, Islam Shabana, Jumana Manna, Haig Aivazian, Noor Abed

Subtitles

English

Duration

60min