The Films of Branwen Okpako (German Studies Association Conference - Houston TX - Sept. 15-18, 2022)

The Films of Branwen Okpako

(sponsored by the DEFA Film Library and the Black German Heritage and Research Association)

Updated to reflect the actual event

9/16/2022, 8:00 AM–10:00 AM Room 335_A

Moderator: Sara Lennox, University of Massachusetts Commentator: Emily Frazier-Rath, Davidson College

Transcending Our Colors: “Hyper(in)visibility” in Branwen Okpako’s Landing

Karina Griffith, University of Toronto

Not Clueless: Branwen Okpako’s Tal der Ahnungslosen

Jeffrey Wallen, Hampshire College

Race and Policing in Branwen Okpako’s Dreckfresser

Bisola Ajibade, University of Florida

Medea’s Black and White Voices: Representation in Branwen Okpako’s Film The Curse of Medea

Mariana Ivanova, University of Massachusetts

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Original post

The Films of Branwen Okpako

Call for papers

German Studies Association Conference

Houston TX - Sept. 15-18, 2022

 

Born in Lagos, Nigeria, Branwen Okpako studied directing in Berlin and has directed a number of acclaimed films. She teaches at UC Davis and is currently completing Chibok Girls, a feature film based on the 2016 novel by Nigerian author Helon Habila about the mass abduction in northern Nigeria. In 2021, she was a featured guest in the virtual film festival Black Lives in Germany: Resilience – Art – Hope, which was curated by Kevina King and organized by the DEFA Film Library at UMass Amherst.
 

ANNOUNCEMENT: CALL FOR PAPERS PANEL SERIES: THE FILMS OF BRANWEN OKPAKO

 

We invite contributions for a series of panels on Branwen Okpako’s films, for the 2022 German Studies Association conference, Sept 15-18. Co-sponsored by the Black German Heritage & Research Association (BGHRA) and the DEFA Film Library, these panels seek to explore the range of stories and rich imagery in the films of this groundbreaking director.

Relevant topics might include:
• Afro-Germanness and Afro-German creativity and artistic production;
• Form, filmmaking, and aesthetics;
• Postcolonial and feminist consciousness at the intersections of multiple cultural and familial traditions, norms, values;
• Regimes of the body; femininity and gender;
• Engagement with disciplinary regimes, e.g. the police, political regimes, or language;
• German reunification and its repercussion on discourses of racialization, positionality and representation in Europe and Germany;
• Family his- and herstories;
• Affiliation and belonging;
• Political activism and self-empowerment; and
• The reception of Branwen Okpako’s films.

To learn more about this panel series and how you can submit your abstract, visit our website! The deadline is February 28, 2022: https://ecommerce.umass.edu/defa/projects/special-events/38410