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Reel Festivals
A celebration of film, music and culture from areas in conflict
www.reelfestivals.org
About Us
Reel Festivals is a group of people who believe that working in small-scale, manageable projects can have larger impact and create sustainable opportunities for people in need. We believe that art and culture are the best way to break down barriers and increase communication. Previous events have focused on Syria, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan, with poetry, music and film events.
Aims of Reel Festivals:
- To spread awareness of areas in conflict beyond the headlines.
- To empower cultural figures and encourage their development.
- To encourage engagement with the arts and international issues.
- To encourage dialog between communities.
To achieve these aims we work through specialized festivals, dealing with specific areas in conflict in an in-depth manner and using as many different arts and educational forms as possible.
Previous Reel Festivals have focused on Afghanstan and Iraq and have been coordinated by Firefly International, Afghan Schools Trust and Edinburgh University Settlement.
To download a selection of the press coverage for Reel Festivals please use the link below. This document is in the universal PDF format.
Reel Festivals Press Coverage
The festivals are run as non-profit events, one of the central aims is to fundraise for small-scale charities in areas in conflict. Reel Festivals is a Firefly International project.
THE TEAM
Current Team:
Yasmin Fedda is an independent award winning filmmaker working independently, with broadcasters and with charities. She is also a translator and editor working in the UK, Middle East and beyond – Co-founder of Reel Festivals and film programmer for Reel Festivals since 2009.
Dan Gorman is the director of Firefly International, a UK based NGO, which aims to break down barriers between communities via the arts and education, and co-founder of Reel Festivals. Outside of Firefly International Dan also has worked on many community arts projects, both in the UK (such as the Forest Café and Roxy Art House in Edinburgh) and in Europe and the Middle East. All of these projects have the aim of increasing dialogue, communication and collaboration, while promoting social justice and equality through the arts – Reel Festivals co-founder & coordinator
Sophia Hoffman is a teaching fellow at the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies in Geneva, where she lectures on questions of humanitarian action related to the Middle East. She holds a PhD from the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, which focused on the daily life of Iraqi migrants in Damascus. Initially trained as a journalist, Sophia has presented and written on Middle East security issues, Syrian current affairs and international relations theory for a range of media and conferences in Europe, the US and the UK – Talks and discussions programmer for Reel Iraq 2013.
Lauren Pyott is a writer and translator based in Edinburgh. She has spent extensive periods of time in the Middle East, most recently in Syria in 2010/2011 and Oman in 2012. She also has been involved with Reel Festivals since 2011 and was one of the key elements behind the publishing of ‘I Chose to Listen’, an e-book of Syrian, Lebanese and Scottish poetry - www.reelfestivals.org/reel-content/i-chose-to-listen/ Lauren Pyott is Reel Iraq 2013 Scotland Coordinator
Yasmin Samir-Shakir is an independent filmmaker with a Masters in Visual Anthropology from the University of Manchester and a focus on worldwide movements for social change and environmental justice. She is founder and co-director of Tripod, offering participatory workshops on the practice of, and interplay between, arts and social activism. She has also been involved in several community arts projects both in the UK, including The Forest (Edinburgh) and Castles Built in Sand (Manchester), and in the USA – Reel Iraq film programmer in 2009 and 2013 and Reel Festivals Iraq consultant.
Rasha Shaheen is a musician, educator and event and tour manager. She is a lecturer at the Bristol Institute of Modern Music and has a Masters in Songwriting. She has also been leading youth music projects for The Bristol Music Trust for over ten years. She has toured with bands as a performer and tour manager in Europe and The USA since 1997 – Music supervisor for Reel Iraq 2013.
Elhum Shakerifar is an independent Creative Producer of film and photography projects, and co-founder of Postcode Films, facilitating film education projects. She lectures at the Freie Universitat Berlin, Goldsmiths University of London, and programmes for Bird’s Eye View and Reel Festivals – Reel Iraq 2013 film programmer.
Ryan Van Winkle is Poet in Residence at Edinburgh City Libraries following a successful run as the Scottish Poetry Library’s first-ever Reader in Residence. He remains the host of the SPL’s weekly poetry podcast as well as The Multi-Coloured Culture Laser Podcast. He is the host and curator of The Golden Hour a literary cabaret, which has toured the world. He was awarded a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship in 2012 – Reel Festivals literature programmer since 2009.
Hoshang Waziry is a writer currently living in Erbil. He writes in both Arabic and English, in particular political analysis on Iraqi issues and Middle Eastern affairs. He has written for publications including Al-Hayat, Assafir and other newspapers and magazines. He has also written critical essays and reviews on a variety of literary and artistic works.
Samples of his work can be found at Exponto magazine, kurdushaspect.com and opendemocracy.net Hoshang is the Reel Iraq 2013 Erbil coordinator.
Previous Team Members:
Tom Crowley is Assistant Curator of Anthropology at the Horniman Museum. As part of Reel Iraq (2009) he was responsible for a lecture series on the history and archaeology of Iraq and joint curated the exhibition of contemporary Iraqi art; Creativity vs Destruction: Stories of Iraqi Art.
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Guest Blog
Jen Hadfield:
First the light
Zahir Mousa:
Reel Festivals – Dialogue through Poetry
Krystelle Bamford:
Last Day in Erbil
Ryan Van Winkle:
Photo Blog: Shaqlawa – Poets in the Game Zone
+ more
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Mailing List
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