Performing the self – the interview
Photos of the third evening “Performing the self – the interview”. A video-installation of Enrica Camporesi with Fady Al Ghorra
Video “Performing the self – the interview” was about a third important moment in the life of a refugee The moment of arrival (in this case, of course, defined as: Belgium). It was made by an Italian filmmaker Enrica Camporesi with an interviewee of Specially Unknown, Palestinian actor Fady Al Ghora, in Antwerp since 2014.
The video is a recording of a shadow theatre play. We see the shadows of a refugee and a Belgian protection (immigration) officer trying to communicate while waiting for an interpreter to start an interview, whereby strange and sometimes funny miscommunication and misunderstandings arise from different cultural and existential approaches, experiences and expectations, but also from the power relations. The officer is asking bureaucratic facts, the refugee is answering poetically, about things that matter to him.
This brings light on different aspects and perspectives on questions like what is truth, what is important about a person, what makes somebody’s identity: the law and passport, or human nature, views, emotions, memories and opinions.
A refugee lawyer, an interpreter and an employee of a reception desk of the Red Cross who took part in a panel discussion after the projection, confirmed that they experienced similar situations and recognized the discomfort they brought.
