Dagmawi Yimer. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)
Tadias Magazine
Events News
Published: Tuesday, March 25th, 2014
New York (TADIAS) — As Reuters noted in a feature published this past December, Ethiopian filmmaker Dagmawi Yimer, who lives in Italy, “is part of the fast-growing immigrant population that is changing the face of Italy, just as it has transformed the populations of more northern European countries such as Britain, France or Germany. He is also one of many foreigners who are trying – through cultural initiatives such as films and books – to change the racist views of many Italians of the immigrants in their midst.”
In his 58-minutes documentary entitled Va’ pensiero, Walking Stories, which will be screened on Thursday (March 27th) here in New York, Dagmawi reflects on the difficulties of being an immigrant in his adopted country. The film chronicles violent incidents against African immigrants and the victims’ lonely journey to overcome their traumatizing experience while the media ignores their perspective.
Per the announcement: “Va’ pensiero, Walking Stories is an interwoven account of two racist attacks in Milan and Florence and the victims’ painful attempts to piece the fragments of their lives back together. In central Milan, Mohamed Ba, a 50 year old Senegalese griot (bard), actor and teacher and resident in Italy for 14 years, is knifed in broad daylight on May 31, 2009. In Florence, residents Mor and Cheikj, also immigrants from Senegal, are beaten on December 31, 2011 while working in the San Lorenzo market. This powerful account brings together the overlapping stories of the three protagonists’ ordeal and their enduring hope of building a life in Italy, despite the fear and uncertainty of suddenly being plunged back to the moment of the attacks by one look or gesture. The director Dagmawi Yimer, a refugee from Ethiopia, shows us what violence looks like through the eyes of the victim.”
The screening organized by New York University’s Institute of African American Affairs, the Department of Film and Television, Cinema Studies and the Africana Studies Program is part of NYU’s “New Directions in African Cinema” series that explores “recent, innovative and cutting edge documentary movies (experimental and narrative).” The director will participate in a dialogue following the screening.
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If You Go:
A screening of “Va’ pensiero, Walking Stories” & dialogue w/ director Dagmawi Yimer
Date: Thursday, March 27th, 2014
Time: 6:30 pm
Location: Cinema Studies Dept-Tisch-NYU
721 Broadway, 6th floor Michelson Theater
(Free and open to the public. Space is limited)
www.nyuiaaa.org
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