We use our films to craft impact strategies to catalyse change locally and globally, ensuring that critical issues remain in the international spotlight. For example, our films from Myanmar were screened across the country in workshops, as well as at the United States Institute for Peace (USIP) in Washington D.C., and have contributed to the de-escalation of religious intolerance in Myanmar. Our finished and upcoming films on the environment in Trinidad & Tobago will increase global attention on climate change and the challenges facing small island nations. Explore our recent case studies to see how our films and impact strategies have made a difference.
Possible Landscapes
A test screening of 'Possible Landscapes', a documentary feature film directed by Kannan Arunasalam and produced and conceptualised by Tao DuFour and Natalie Melas. took place at Cornell Cinema in October 2024 .
'Possible Landscapes' joins seven people in seven different regions of the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago in the course of their daily lives: Kevin, a fisherman on the east coast suffering the recent loss of one of his crew members at sea; four generations of the Josephs family in the steep hillsides of the northern range; Captain ‘Spaceman’ Philips and his glass-bottomed boat in Tobago from which he has witnessed the decline of the coral reefs; Crystal, a trade unionist active in supporting workers who lost their jobs when a major oil refinery was closed; Romulas, known as the “last sugar cane farmer” in the central plains and his Venezuelan workers; Stephanie a nurse who worked in the oil fields in the south starting just after World War II; Tony, originally from Jamaica, a climate change analyst, agriculturalist and rabbit farmer in St Joseph.
A collaboration between a documentary filmmaker, Kannan Arunasalam and two professors, Tao DuFour (Architecture) a spatial theorist and Natalie Melas (Comparative Literature) a postcolonial comparatist and scholar of Caribbean thought, 'Possible Landscapes' is the outcome of the team research project, “Possible Landscapes: Documenting Environmental Experience in Trinidad and Tobago,” funded through a grant from Cornell University’s Migrations: A Global Grand Challenge and the Mellon Just Futures Initiative. The aim was to develop methods of field research and representation drawing on the visual and narrative resources of documentary film, in order to foreground the nature of intergenerational lived experience of landscapes and environments.
'Possible Landscapes' joins seven people in seven different regions of the Caribbean islands of Trinidad and Tobago in the course of their daily lives: Kevin, a fisherman on the east coast suffering the recent loss of one of his crew members at sea; four generations of the Josephs family in the steep hillsides of the northern range; Captain ‘Spaceman’ Philips and his glass-bottomed boat in Tobago from which he has witnessed the decline of the coral reefs; Crystal, a trade unionist active in supporting workers who lost their jobs when a major oil refinery was closed; Romulas, known as the “last sugar cane farmer” in the central plains and his Venezuelan workers; Stephanie a nurse who worked in the oil fields in the south starting just after World War II; Tony, originally from Jamaica, a climate change analyst, agriculturalist and rabbit farmer in St Joseph.
A collaboration between a documentary filmmaker, Kannan Arunasalam and two professors, Tao DuFour (Architecture) a spatial theorist and Natalie Melas (Comparative Literature) a postcolonial comparatist and scholar of Caribbean thought, 'Possible Landscapes' is the outcome of the team research project, “Possible Landscapes: Documenting Environmental Experience in Trinidad and Tobago,” funded through a grant from Cornell University’s Migrations: A Global Grand Challenge and the Mellon Just Futures Initiative. The aim was to develop methods of field research and representation drawing on the visual and narrative resources of documentary film, in order to foreground the nature of intergenerational lived experience of landscapes and environments.
Anatomy of A Protest
With funding from Open Society Foundations we screened a localised version of our forthcoming documentary, ‘Republic of Amnesia’ (titled ‘Anatomy of a Protest’) to selected audiences across the country. We ensured that our feedback was coming from demographically diverse sources. We worked with local partners, including the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES) and Himal South Asia to show the film to local journalists, artists, and activists. The goal was to reignite important conversations in Sri Lanka on democracy, justice, accountability and reconciliation that have been stymied and silenced. A panel discussion with the director and protagonists in the film followed each screening, leading to lively discussion and constructive feedback. The audience reception was overwhelmingly positive. with many calling for the film to be shown more widely in Sri Lanka. Many audience members felt it would help remind citizens of what the country just experienced. We hope to return with wider screenings of the new film during early 2025.
Sri Lanka’s Rebel Wife
We partnered with the Sri Lanka Campaign to host a premiere of our film ‘Sri Lanka’s Rebel Wife’ prior to its broadcast on Al Jazeera Witness. The event was attended by human rights activists, journalists, academics, members of Tamil and Sinhala diaspora organizations, and other stakeholders with a vested interest in fostering a democratic and inclusive Sri Lanka.
Following the screening, a panel discussion, moderated by Simon Long, editor-at-large for The Economist, delved into the film's themes and issues. The discussion focused on the topic of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka and featured director Kannan Arunasalam, rights lawyer Dharsha Jegatheeswaran, International Crisis Group’s Senior Sri Lanka Consultant Alan Keenan, and BBC journalist Nalini Sivathasan.
The film was very well received, and the screening helped to keep the spotlight on the scourge of enforced disappearances, especially in the midst of the protests unfolding in Sri Lanka. Conversely, the protests eventually also helped open up conversations about these past issues of war crimes and enforced disappearances.
Following the screening, a panel discussion, moderated by Simon Long, editor-at-large for The Economist, delved into the film's themes and issues. The discussion focused on the topic of enforced disappearances in Sri Lanka and featured director Kannan Arunasalam, rights lawyer Dharsha Jegatheeswaran, International Crisis Group’s Senior Sri Lanka Consultant Alan Keenan, and BBC journalist Nalini Sivathasan.
The film was very well received, and the screening helped to keep the spotlight on the scourge of enforced disappearances, especially in the midst of the protests unfolding in Sri Lanka. Conversely, the protests eventually also helped open up conversations about these past issues of war crimes and enforced disappearances.
WE LOVE WE SELF UP HERE
Our finished and upcoming films on the environment in Trinidad & Tobago will increase global attention on the impact of the Anthropocene, the legacies of sugar and oil industries and the lived experience of ordinary people with the environment.
In 2021 Kannan Arunasalam and collaborators, Tao DuFour, and Natalie Melas, engaged in discussion and Q&A about the documentary ‘We Love We Self Up Here’ with Viranjini Munasinghe, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Cornell University, David Scott, Ruth and William Lubic Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology, Columbia University (remotely) and Jeremy Foster, Associate Professor of Architecture, Cornell University. There were further screenings of the film and panel discussions at Harvard University and University of Cambridge.
THE TENT
Following its exhibition at The Tetley contemporary art gallery in Leeds (February – June 2019) and the South Gallery at the University of Brighton (March – May 2019), our two-channel installation film was showcased in Colombo and Jaffna. In collaboration with Amnesty International and supported by funding from Open Society Foundations, 'The Tent', accompanied by a historical photographic archive by veteran conflict photographer Steven Champion, was shown to audiences in both cities, including a special screening for the mothers of the disappeared.
The goal of the project was to highlight the scourge of enforced disappearances and the contemporary protests by Tamil mothers to audiences in the south, and in Jaffna, to try and gesture towards connections to the era of enforced disappearances that took place during the “Era of Terror”, the 1987-89 period of insurrection and state violence.
The goal of the project was to highlight the scourge of enforced disappearances and the contemporary protests by Tamil mothers to audiences in the south, and in Jaffna, to try and gesture towards connections to the era of enforced disappearances that took place during the “Era of Terror”, the 1987-89 period of insurrection and state violence.
