The Feminine and the Foreign: Work In Progress (2019-)
We have begun work on a new project, The Feminine and the Foreign. This will be our first documentary body of work, (though documentary archives are not new to us in the least: our first work as a collective was the project that became our first fiction anthology film, Stories Of Our Lives, and the identically named book). F+F will illustrate and pay homage to the work, reflections and homes of black feminist, queer, and immigrant activists, and their communities in multiple cities around the world.
Commissioned by the incredible people at the London International Festival of Theatre (LIFT) and Infecting The City (Cape Town), under the British Council’s New Art New Audiences program, The Feminine and the Foreign was originally designed as a conventional film production visit to both London and Cape Town. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic that had started to make its way around the world, the project was redesigned to allow for remote and collaborative production techniques that allowed for production to continue and—in many ways—opened up new creative possibilities for virtual co-creation.
With the Feminine and the Foreign, we enter into feminist, queer and immigration activist communities in multiple cities around the world, searching for the theoretical, ideological, spiritual, emotional and philosophical connections between all these movements, communities and activists. We additionally intend to transmute the result of our questioning, exploring and seeking amongst these communities into a series of artworks, which weave together film, visuals, music and live performance, that encapsulate a multi-city dialogue that build connections between seemingly disparate people, communities and movements. All these entities are pushing back against one global force that seeks to sequester, separate and incapacitate minority communities with the aid of misguided socio-cultural, institutional and political power.
The resulting works seek to articulate and visualize responses to some of the following provocations:
What does it take to create, nurture and strengthen a feminist, queer or immigration movement in a world in which these three issues appear to be on the battlefront for our future vision of the world?
What global societal shifts are all these communities responding to, and what approaches have worked in the different cities?
What can the liberal left who have been caught off-guard by the swift rise of right-wing sentiments learn about disseminating facts in a post-truth world?
What roles do the increasing global pressures on natural, human and economic resources play in fueling nationalist, xenophobic, racist, anti-feminist and anti-queer sentiment around the world?
We are developing a number of activations for each city which may include live/recorded performances and interaction in physical or virtual dialogue with the digital forms, gallery installations and happenings, talks, and workshops, as well as non-conventional performative settings. These draw upon our history of convening communities around performances and parties, such as our Strictly Silk series bringing together hundreds of Kenyan women and non-binary people to gather for performances. An accompanying publication will further embed and deepen the project and our reach in participating cities and across participating partner audiences.
The Feminine and The Foreign is slated for its first public presentation in 2021, followed by further presentations slated for 2022. Details will be communicated here and via our social media channels. We remain grateful for all the work that has so far been done to make this project possible, as well as the grace, kindness and flexibility of our project partners and participants, who are also weathering this challenging period where they are.
Project Credits—
Lead Artists: Mars Maasai (director, The Foreign) and Njoki Ngumi (director, the Feminine)
Interview Support: Akati Khasiani, Sunny Dolat
Exhibition Design and Presentation: Sunny Dolat, Jim Chuchu
Producers: Jim Chuchu, Njeri Gitungo, Njoki Ngumi
Technical Leads: Noel Kasyoka (Visuals), Mars Maasai (Sound)
F+F London Crew
Cinematographer: Timi Akindele-Ajani
Cinematographer Assistant: Rachael Simoes
Sound Recordist: Jacopo Scutti
First Assistant Director: Joe Steptoe
Project Manager: Camila Gutiérrez Aguilera
Pre-production Producer: Sud Basu
Production Manager: Mekel Edwards
Studio Production Assistant: Giovanni Edwards
Photographer: Eric Aydin-Barberini
F+F Cape Town Crew
Artistic Director: Jay Pather
On-site Director and Production Liaison: Dominique Jossie
Cinematographer: Chris Ketz
Sound Recordist: Theuns van Dyk
Project Managers: Ethel Ntlantla and Buntu Tyali
Production Driver: Fuzile Sibene
Production Security: Peter Gagu