A Community Collaborations Event
Presented in partnership with MIPSTERZ, Public Space One, and the Center for Afrofuturist Studies
Join us after the show for a panel discussion and Q&A with Abbas Rattani, director and founder of MIPSTERZ.
FilmScene in collaboration with MIPSTERZ, Public Space One, and the Center for Afrofuturist Studies invites y'all to the screening of five critically acclaimed short films helping us explore "Muslim Futurism" as an evolving genre. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with scholars, filmmakers, and artists with refreshments in the lobby after to keep the conversation going.
SHEHR E TABASSUM (CITY OF SMILES) (Pakistan, 2020, 9 min.) Dir. Arafat Mazhar
It is the year 2071. There have been no reported instances of terrorism or violent crime in over three decades in Pakistan. The cost—the systematic subjugation of human emotion. Welcome to Shehr e Tabassum.
NATION ESTATE (Palestine, Denmark, 2012, 9 min.) Dir. Larissa Sansour
With a glossy mixture of computer generated imagery, live actors and an arabesque electronica soundtrack, the film explores a vertical solution to Palestinian statehood. Palestinians have their state in the form of a single skyscraper: the Nation Estate. One colossal high-rise houses the entire Palestinian population—now finally living the high life.
DESI STANDARD TIME TRAVEL (Canada, 2022, 20 min.) Dir. Kashif Pasta
When a new father suddenly loses his own dad, an opportunity to travel back in time for an evening gives him a chance to end things on a better note.
IN THE FUTURE THEY ATE FROM THE FINEST PORCELAIN (UK, Denmark, Qatar, 2016, 29 min.) Dirs. Larissa Sansour, Søren Lind
A cross-section between sci-fi, archaeology and politics that combines live motion and CGI, exploring the role of myth for history, fact and national identity. A narrative resistance group makes underground deposits of elaborate porcelain suggested to belong to an entirely fictional civilization. Their aim is to influence history and support future claims to their vanishing lands. Once unearthed, this tableware will prove the existence of this counterfeit people. By implementing a myth of its own, their work becomes a historical intervention—de facto creating a nation.
ALHAMDU | MUSLIM FUTURISM (USA, 2022, 5 min.) Dir. Abbas Rattani
An ethnographic montage of a speculative Muslim future where Muslim joy is a form of resistance, a form of liberation. The sheer act of imagining a utopian existence is an act of self-preservation and survival.
Support provided by the ArtsMidwest GIG Fund and the National Endowment for the Arts
