Lymy + Solidarity Minded present a support weekend of film screenings featuring independent shorts from Kurdistan (Iraq), Lebanon, and Ukraine โ all of which are places where Solidarity Minded volunteered in 2023. DIY films from previous editions of the anticapitalist Copenhagen Underground Film Festival, the group from which SM was born out of, will also be featured in the programme. Solidarity Minded itself is a mutual aid collective providing free therapy and mental health support in places where it is scarce to non-existent.
In 2024, Solidarity Minded will collaborate with Repair Together and other local recovery and rehabilitation initiatives in Kyiv to provide free therapy, education, art, workshops, and cultural events for those impacted by the fascist full-scale invasion and temporary occupation. The collective anticipates reaching volunteers, journalists, displaced persons, LGBTQIA+ folks, veterans, active fighters, and more with its psychosocial support programmes.
To read more about SM, you can visit: solidarityminded.cargo.site/projects | Interested in joining the collective and volunteering? You can meet one member (Rayan) on the nights of the events or can contact us at: solidarityminded@riseup.net
Entry is donation based, and all funds raised will support basic living costs to make full-time, year round mutual aid on the ground possible. Solidarity Minded volunteers full time and has no other source of income, every penny counts and goes a long way! We recommend a donation in the range of 2 – 15 euros.
Schedule:
Friday 26th – Lebanon:
18:30 doors open
19:00 Perhaps Today [dir. Nadine Asmar / 6']
19:30 There Must Be Something Wrong [dir. Karim Nadr / 17']
20:00 Anywhere But Here [dir. Charbel Couchany / 7']
20:30 In The Absence Of Light [dir. Charbel Chouchany / 6']Saturday 27th – Kurdistan:
18:30 doors open
19:00 Qelershk (Raven) [dir. Shukri Mahmood / 2016 / Iraq / 21']
19:40 My Clayey Conception [dir. Zanyar Muhammadineko / 2017 / Iran / 3']
20:00 Evan: A Survivorโs Story [dir. Rafiqfuad Yarahmadi / 2018 / UK/Kurdistan / 18']
20:30 Nu Jin (New Life) [dir. Veysi Altay / 2015 / Kurdistan / 48']Sunday 28th – Ukraine:
18:30 doors open
19:00 Strong In Spirit [dir. Slavik Bihun / 2018 / 23']
19:45 Unavailable (Tera) [dir. Nikon Romanchenko / 2018 / 27']
20:30 Charcoal [dir. Anastasiya Maksymchuk / 2020 / 18']Synopsis of films shown:
Films from Lebanon:
Perhaps Today / dir: Nadine Asmar / 6:20
A woman in Beirut repeats the same routine each day hoping for something different
There Must Be Something Wrong / dir: Karim Nadr / 17:10
In the midst of a pandemic, a Lebanese man experiences a dystopian isolation catalyzed by Kafkaesque technology and virtual relations
Anywhere But Here / dir: Charbel Couchany / 7:23
A young Lebanese man in Sicily is stuck in a surrealist loopโฆ in his underpants
In The Absence Of Light / dir: Charbel Chouchany / 6:00
A failed actor in Georgia in his mid-20s is torn between joining a burgeoning resistance movement or to pursue his dream
Films from Kurdistan:
โQelershk (Raven)โ
Shukri Mahmood | 2016 | Iraq | 21′
A Yazidi painter who, after escaping ISIS captivity in 2014 but not their daily threats, continues devoting his life to art and portraying the living history and memory of his people in Kurdistan.
โMy Clayey Conceptionโ
Zanyar Muhammadineko | 2017 | Iran | 3′
A short video portrait of a Kurdish veteran of war who finds peace in his work with clay.
โEvan: A Survivorโs Storyโ
Rafiqfuad Yarahmadi | 2018 | UK/Kurdistan | 18′
After fleeing Kurdistan from ISIS as a journalist covering the Peshmarga front lines, this documentary (created and also directed by his translator) shows the difficulties of todayโs asylum seeking process and the stress it bears on families who are kept apart by borders and unjust immigration practices.
โNu Jin (New Life)โ
Veysi Altay | 2015 | Kurdistan | 48′
Nu Jin is centered around a YPJ battalion in Kobane and tells the stories of the everyday women who have dedicated their lives wholly to revolution in the mid-2010s.
Films from Ukraine:
Strong In Spirit – 23:02 | Dir. Slavik Bihun (2018) | The harrowing survival story of one of the first political prisoners following Maidan and the Russian occupations of 2014. The documentary retells the corruption, false imprisonment and torture of Yuriy Yatsenko and the lengths in which he had to go to in order to survive and return home.
Unavailable (Tera) – 27:12 | Dir. Nikon Romanchenko (2018) | Lyuba works at a confectionery factory in a small town in the West, her son is in the war zone in the East of the country and there is no connection with him. Lyuba goes in search of his son in an unfamiliar territory.
Charcoal – 18:42 | Dir. Anastasiya Maksymchuk (2020) | โShe draws with charcoal to get the memories out of herself, she parties hard to kill the taste of trauma, until one mysterious phone call forces her to face it all again. “Charcoal” has an aesthetics of a dark nightmare and is based on the interviews of Ukrainian political prisoners, documenting their experiences of captivity in the hands of the Russian occupants in Donbass.”