#emancipatieidentiteit — Public Fediverse posts

Maghreb Film Festival: Take My Breath

De Balie, Sunday, November 1 at 02:00 PM GMT+1

Twenty-three-year-old Shams works as a seamstress and lives a quiet life, carefully keeping her intersex identity hidden from those around her. When her secret is exposed, the fragile balance of her life collapses. Caught between desire, love and the rigid expectations of her surroundings, Shams is forced to leave her home and seek refuge in Tunis.

With Take My Breath, Nada Mezni Hafaiedh explores the difficult tension between personal identity and the social norms imposed on the body. Shams’ journey becomes a story about the right to define yourself, even when the world around you refuses to accept anything that falls outside its familiar boundaries.

The film premiered at the Warsaw International Film Festival and went on to win awards at the Rotterdam Arab Film Festival and the International Oriental Film Festival of Geneva. It was also selected as Tunisia’s entry for the 2025 Academy Awards.

https://offbeat.amsterdam/event/maghreb-film-festival-take-my-breath

Black Achievement Month: 60 jaar West-Afrikaanse cinema

De Balie, Saturday, October 3 at 08:00 PM GMT+2

Hoe ontstaat een cinema wanneer filmmakers voor het eerst de vrijheid krijgen om hun eigen verhalen te vertellen? En hoeveel van die artistieke onafhankelijkheid is er vandaag nog over?

Na de vertoning van Férid Boughedirs Caméra d’Afrique gaan we in gesprek over de ontwikkeling van de Afrikaanse cinema na de onafhankelijkheid. De nieuwe generatie filmmakers richtte zich niet alleen op de urgente maatschappelijke en politieke thema’s waarmee Afrikaanse cinema vaak wordt geassocieerd, maar maakte ook lichte, humoristische en toegankelijke films over liefde, relaties, familie, ambitie en het dagelijks leven — thema’s die net zo goed de Amerikaanse en Franse cinema van die tijd kenmerkten.

We bespreken hoe filmmakers in de eerste decennia na de onafhankelijkheid vanuit hun eigen artistieke en culturele perspectief konden werken, vaak onder moeilijke omstandigheden maar met een sterke behoefte aan zelfexpressie. Welke ruimte ontstond er toen Afrikaanse filmmakers niet langer hoefden te voldoen aan de verwachtingen van de koloniale blik? En in hoeverre bepalen Europese financiers, festivals, distributeurs en internationale verwachtingen vandaag nog steeds welke Afrikaanse films worden gemaakt en gezien?

Het gesprek verbindt de filmgeschiedenis met het heden en onderzoekt wat een werkelijk onafhankelijk Afrikaans filmgeluid betekent.

Deze vertoning maakt deel uit van 60 jaar West-Afrikaanse cinema, een programma dat terugkijkt op de eerste decennia van de Afrikaanse filmgeschiedenis na de onafhankelijkheid, in samenwerking met Black Achievement Month.

https://offbeat.amsterdam/event/black-achievement-month-60-jaar-west-afrikaanse-cinema

How Diversity And Inclusion Came Under Attack

De Balie, Thursday, October 22 at 07:30 PM GMT+2

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies are under fire from both sides of the political spectre: efforts are dismissed as ‘woke’ on the right and as a corporate checklist substituting real change on the left. How have these principles of diversity become so politicized?

The death of Cambridge professor Jason Arday marks a tragic low point in the culture war surrounding diversity and inclusion policies. In the United States, the Trump administration is rolling back such policies, while in the Netherlands, major corporations are pulling out of events such as Amsterdam’s Canal Parade. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies are under fire from both sides: efforts are dismissed as ‘woke’ on the right and as a corporate checklist substituting real change on the left.

The diversity principle holds that societies, institutions and democracies are strengthened when people with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives engage with one another. But how to get there, when this very notion has become so politicized?

Tonight we look at the role that universities have played in the ideas and policies on diversity, equity and inclusion. Professor David B. Oppenheimer wrote the book The Diversity Principle, which chronicles how diversity became a foundational value of higher education over the last two hundred years, from quota for Jewish students at Ivy League schools to the desegregation of schools in the American South after the civil rights movement. He will enter into conversation with Dr. Ivana Isailović, who examines how neoliberalism is incorporating emancipatory thoughts and movements.

David B. Oppenheimer is a Clinical Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law, and Co-Director of the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law. He is the author of The Diversity Principle: The Story of a Transformative Idea.

Ivana Isailović is Assistant Professor of EU law and the academic coordinator of the Sustainable Global Economic Law (SGEL) interdisciplinary research project. Her research sits at the intersection of law, gender studies, critical theory and political economy. Her ongoing research examines the interplay between law, political economy and gender based inequalities in global contexts.

Samira Rafaela is a former Member of the European Parliament, international speaker and advisor advocating for better women’s health. She also conducted research into the gender pay gap as a visiting researcher at Cornell University in the US.

https://offbeat.amsterdam/event/how-diversity-and-inclusion-came-under-attack

Didier Eribon on Class and Inequality

De Balie, Tuesday, September 29 at 08:00 PM GMT+2

How does social inequality shape the experience of growing older? This evening Philosopher Didier Eribon, one of the most influential French thinkers of his generation, will speak about the intersections of class, ageing, and inequality.

Eribon argues that we think far too little about old age: “It only concerns the people who are directly affected, and their children. Very old people form a political category that is not recognised as such. This is an economic, social, political, and moral problem.” (Didier Eribon in NRC, 2024)

Eribon’s work Returning to Reims (2018) became an international reference point for understanding class, social mobility, and inequality. In his latest book, The Life, Old Age, and Death of a Working-Class Woman (2024), Eribon turns his attention to the final stage of life. Reflecting on the decline and death of his mother, he explores how ageing, dependency, and care are deeply shaped by social inequalities.

https://offbeat.amsterdam/event/didier-eribon-on-class-and-inequality

Evelien Gans Lecture by Eva Illouz

De Balie, Wednesday, May 20 at 08:00 PM GMT+2

The third Evelien Gans Lecture will be given by French-Israeli sociologist Eva Illouz. Afterwards, she will engage in a conversation with Arnon Grunberg.

An outspoken critic of Israeli policies who at the same time questions prevailing views on colonialism and Zionism within the academic left, Illouz often finds herself at odds with different sides of the debate. In her lecture, Illouz will reflect on the public debate that was set in motion after the October 7 attacks in Israel. She has been critical of strands within Western academic debate, that in her view insufficiently acknowledge the experiences of Israeli victims.

In 2025, Illouz was at the centre of a controversy when Erasmus University withdrew its invitation at Illouz to speak at the university. Erasmus University later apologised for this. Earlier, Illouz was denied the Israel Prize, the most important cultural prize in Israel, by the Israeli government because of her criticism of the IDF.

Illouz’ work focuses on how modern culture shapes our emotions, relationships, and ideas about love. In her most recent work, Explosive Modernity, she argues that the defining crises of our time can only be understood through the powerful emotions that drive them: fear, disappointment, rage, shame, and love. She has applied this perspective to several societies, including Israel, analyzing how the current government mobilizes emotions to deepen social divisions and undermine democratic norms.

About Eva Illouz
Eva Illouz (1961) is a professor of sociology at the University of Jerusalem. She researches love, emotions, and modern culture. Her earlier book Why Love Ends has been published in Dutch. Her latest book Explosive Modernity has been released in 2025.

Evelien Gans (1951 – 2018) was a committed scholar, a critical and combative historian, and a chronicler of Jewish life. In addition to her work as a researcher at the NIOD (Netherlands Institute for War Documentation), she was a professor of Contemporary Judaism. In 2018, she said in an interview with Vrij Nederland: “I am not only Jewish, but also a woman, left-wing, and a historian.” Her sister Heleen Gans, friend Judith Bruinsma, and colleague Dienke Hondius are the initiators of the Evelien Gans Lecture to honor her legacy. They organize the lecture together with De Balie, De Groene Amsterdammer, Jewish Cultural Quarter, and the Menasseh ben Israel Institute.

https://offbeat.amsterdam/event/evelien-gans-lecture-by-eva-illouz

Football is Politics

De Balie, Tuesday, June 16 at 07:00 PM GMT+2

From ultras to oligarchs: as the World Cup in North America kicks off, we explore the politics of football. How the game is used and abused as a tool of power and prestige, but also functions as a stage for resistance and representation.

Football and politics go hand in hand. That became clear once again this past year when FIFA presented a ‘Peace Prize’ to U.S. President Donald Trump for his ‘exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace’: corruption captured in a single image.

But football is not just the billion-dollar business of oligarchs and sheikhs. The politics of football can also be seen in the demonstrations against Turkish President Erdoğan led by supporters of Beşiktaş J.K., the role of Cairo hooligans from Al Ahly SC during the Arab Spring or in the Irish national football team as symbol of Irish independence.

During this programme, we explore the football pitch as a stage for resistance and representation. How do governments use the game to project power and prestige? Where do players, fans, and activists push back, and how does football relate to anti-colonial struggles past and present? What does the World Cup reveal about the relationship between sport, nation states, and resistance today?

James Montague is an award-winning author and journalist who writes for The Athletic and Tifo and who reports about football, politics and society for The New York Times, CNN and BBC World Service. He is the author of several books, including Among the Ultras, in which Montague went undercover with hooligan groups worldwide.

https://offbeat.amsterdam/event/football-is-politics

CinéDialoog: Bagasi

De Balie, Saturday, May 16 at 07:30 PM GMT+2

Wanneer Emma Lesuis een koffer van haar schoonvader ontvangt, komt ze oog in oog met het koloniale verleden. Wat heeft haar schoonovergrootvader op zijn kerfstok? Inclusief nagesprek.

Theater- en documentairemaker Emma Lesuis komt oog in oog met de koloniale geschiedenis wanneer ze een koffer van haar schoonvader ontvangt. In de koffer zit het (foto)archief van zijn opa Maarten de Niet; procureur-generaal en waarnemend gouverneur van Suriname in de jaren twintig tot vijftig van de vorige eeuw. Emma’s eigen overgrootmoeder, wier achternaam Deimveld een verbastering van veldmeid was, leefde onder zijn bewind. Haar schoonovergrootvader en overgrootmoeder woonden vlak bij een en hetzelfde plein. Op een steenworp van elkaar verwijderd, maar in twee verschillende werelden. Emma keert terug naar het bewuste plein in Suriname. Wat heeft schoonovergrootvader De Niet op zijn kerfstok en hoe gevoelig ligt dat vandaag de dag bij Surinamers? Wat geeft zij straks door aan haar eigen kinderen?

Na de filmvertoning gaan we in gesprek over de film, de koloniale geschiedenis en welke sporen dat verleden nalaat.

https://offbeat.amsterdam/event/cinedialoog-bagasi