Cadences of Resistance

Resisting the enduring legacies of colonial violence and honouring those who continue to gather, speak and dream, these films transform acts of remembrance into radical forms of reclamation, solidarity and world-making.

all that appears solid is built on blood, dir. Izdihar Afyouni & Gelare Khoshgozaran, Palestine/Iran/UK 2026, 11 min.

Reprocessed frame by frame, journalistic footage from Gaza is transformed into a haunting reflection on grief, complicity and rage through the words of poet Ahmad Al-Shaer.

The Muscles Are Tense, dir. Mahshid Mahboubifar, Germany/Iran 2026, 16 min.

By reworking images of political protests in Berlin from 2024, this film essay reveals how surveillance strategies and police violence shape bodies into sites of struggle and refusal.

Between Us and the World, dir. Wallace Minchong Li, UK 2026, 17 min.

Revisiting the site where colonial footage of Sahrawi people was filmed in the 1950s, local youth confront their past while contemplating their possible futures.

No Archive Can Restore this Chorus of (Diasporic) Shame, dir. Onyeka Igwe, UK 2026, 15 min.

Through animated text, layered sound recordings and reimagined protest songs from the 1947 Egba Market women’s revolt, this immersive work creates a sonic redress to colonial narratives of Nigeria.

Buckskin, dir. Mars Verrone, USA 2026, 17 min.

This intimate portrait of the filmmaker’s grandfather, pioneering African-American and Indigenous forester Carroll B. Williams, transforms his enduring legacy into a cinematic poem.

Total runtime: 88 min.

No Archive Can Restore this Chorus of (Diasporic) Shame, dir. Onyeka Igwe, UK 2026, 15 min.