Join us for a screening curated by Candice Nembhard for the third edition of Birmingham Critical Film Forum.

This event brings together work by Kondo Heller and Yasmyn Nettle; two artists working in the medium of film, moving image and collage to explore meditations on family, community and home. The evening will include a discussion with Nettle and the curator, Candice Nembhard.

This edition of Birmingham Critical Film Forum is hosted by Vivid Projects and is part of a series supported by the Stuart Croft Foundation’s Curatorial Award.

Free event, please book in advance here

Films

MU/T/T/ER (2021) dir. Kondo Heller
MU/T/T/ER, as its title suggests, is a cut-up of images and sounds, and a collage of questions. A patchwork of news reports, oral poetry, archive sounds and deeply evocative images, its meditation on personal and shared histories led me on a path of memory and moved me to make connections between the places I come from, the ones where I am now and where I hope to get to in the future.

Property of the People of Birmingham (2021) dir. Yasmyn Nettle
Acquired by Birmingham City Council in 202i, Property of the People of Birmingham was made as part of a digital collaboration project on the theme of ‘Dystopia’ with new media project BLKBX (produced by Bengali artist, Nafis Ahmed). The film was supported by Arts Council England and delivered in association with The British Council.

Yasmyn hides and reveals videos – layering sound, image and text from sources collected via screen recordings. They also include three poems on freedom, written in response to the pandemic by members of the Birmingham community. Yasmyn is increasingly interested in what is seen vs what is hidden within the arts – and how this contributes to a dystopian horror experience within the minds and bodies of those who exist within it.

Biographies

Kondo Heller is a poet. They approach the filmmaking process as a poet. In their films, they layer and unfurl to articulate memory, resonance, and language. Their latest film MU/T/T/ER was selected and screened amongst other places at the Berlinale Expanded Forum Programme 2022, Third Horizon Film Festival, Alchemy Film and Moving Image Festival. Elsewhere, they are a Barbican Young Poet 18/19, an Obsidian Foundation fellow, Ledbury Critic.

Yasmyn Nettle is a Brown, non-binary, Autistic, mixed-heritage Muslim. Their works are often surreal, focusing on Queerness and cultural identity in unexpected ways. Yasmyn is an independent curator and producer specialising in Access Support and Artist Management.

Candice Nembhard (okcandice) is a writer, artist-curator, archivist and musician between Birmingham and Berlin. They are a Jerwood Arts Curatorial Fellow and Obsidian Foundation fellow. In 2019 they founded all fruits ripe — a nomadic events series for queer, Black/Global Majority filmmakers. Elsewhere, Candice is the host of Bedtime Stories on Cashmere Radio and Must Be The Music on Refuge Worldwide.

all fruits ripe is an independent, nomadic events series for queer, Black/Global Majority filmmakers. It was founded in 2019 by writer, artist-curator and archivist Candice Nembhard (okcandice).