Film Screening: Birha (Absence) by Ekta Mittal

Join Primary & New Art Exchange for a screening of Ekta Mittal’s film Birha, followed by a Q&A with the director.

In a faraway village called birha, missing people, mothers and tired lovers yearn to see beyond the mist. They meet each other with impenetrable silences and endless mourning. They curse the moon for witnessing their insomnia. birha situates itself in a season of waiting, climate of uncertainty: where only a loud screech can register distance between loved ones.

birha is the grief, agony and anguish of separation, derived from Punjabi Sufi Poetry. Guided by birha poetry, the film captures the pain, lamentation and yearning caused by separation. Following migrant workers’ to their homes in remote villages, the film searches for missing people, who left their homes to work in faraway cities, and have still have not returned.

Ekta Mittal co-founded Maraa (http://maraa.in), a media and arts collective in Bangalore in 2008. She works there as a practitioner, researcher, curator and facilitator around issues of gender, labour and caste in rural and urban contexts. She also works with creative practices in public space, through independent production and collaborations with other artists. She has produced films around labour, migration and cities since 2009. She is currently curious about mist, cicadas and light refracted through pomegranate seeds.

This event is co-produced with Primary

Part of Here, There & Everywhere.

Please note: This event takes place at Primary, 33 Seely Road, Nottingham, NG7 1NU.