Celebrating International Human Rights Day

From December 8 to 10, 2025, Conflict Textiles, Ulster University, INCORE, Queen's University Belfast, and the Tower Museum collaborated on a three-day programme honouring International Human Rights Day. This initiative highlighted the power of textiles and film in addressing human rights issues.

Participants included film students, researchers, activists, curators, and community members, all exploring how textiles and film can serve as vehicles for memory, truth, and justice. Events included film screenings, workshops, exhibitions, and discussions.

On December 10, the Derry-Londonderry Ulster University Campus hosted a special event featuring short films curated by Cinematic Arts student Jessica Buchanan and PhD researcher Tabassum Islam. Following the screenings, attendees engaged in a thought-provoking discussion with filmmaker Esther Vital, Roberta Bacic from Conflict Textiles, and Professors Élise Féron and Brandon Hamber from INCORE. 

The event underscored the vital role of film in fostering community dialogue around human rights. 

Conflict Textiles has curated a page with all the links and events.

Screenings of Two Indonesian Films

The lastest screenings "Screening Violence" project took place in Dungannon on 16 January 2020, with the support of the Dungannon Film Club, showing two Indonesian films followed by a discussion with participants. The films were Sowan (The Visit) which documents the friendship of two young women, Mien and Murti, who end up on different sides of the political troubles of the mid-1960s. The second film Provocator Damai (Peace Provocateur) is short documentary charts the experiences of Christians and Muslims residing with families of the opposite faith. The second film, in particular, raised an important discussion about the impact of cross-community work in Northern Ireland, with a range of divergent views.

Scene from The Visit (Sowan)

The AHRC Project "Screening Violence: A Transnational Study of Post-Conflict Imaginaries" is undertaken with partners in Newcastle and Bristol University, and works with co-investigators and partners in Algeria, Argentina, Colombia, Northern Ireland and Indonesia.

Screening Violence: Argentinian Films

The lastest screenings of the Screening Violence Project took place in Dungannon on 7 November 2019, with the support of the Dungannon Film Club, showing two Argentinian films followed by a discussion with participants.

The films shown were "Padre/Father" (Director Santiago Bou Grasso), a short stop motion animation piece that portrays the day-to-day life of a woman who looks after her bedridden military father. The second film was "Who am I?/Quién soy yo?"(Director Estela Bravo), a documentary about the stolen babies of the 1976-83 military dictatorship in Argentina who have recovered their true identity. Needless to say, the films provoked an interesting discussion.

The Argentinian animation can see below, and if you further questions on the project or want to participate contact me.

PADRE from opusBou on Vimeo.

The Chair has continued work on AHRC Project "Screening Violence: A Transnational Study of Post-Conflict Imaginaries" with partners in Newcastle and Bristol University, and works with co-investigators and partners in Algeria, Argentina, Colombia, Northern Ireland and Indonesia.

Exodus at New Gate Fringe Festival

The "Screening Violence" project partnered with the New Gate Fringe Festival in Derry/Londonderry, which included a screening of the film "Exodus" and focus group discussion after on 31 July 2018. A panel discussing the movement of Protestants from the City side of Derry was then undertaken and filmed in the evening including panelists Gregory Campbell, Eamon McCann, Pauline Gardiner, Niall Gilmartin, and Adrian Grant.

Panelists Gregory Campbell, Eamon McCann, Pauline Gardiner
Niall Gilmartin, and Adrian Grant

This event was part of the AHRC Project "Screening Violence: A Transnational Study of Post-Conflict Imaginaries" with partners in Newcastle and Bristol University, and works with co-investigators and partners in Algeria, Argentina, Colombia, Northern Ireland and Indonesia.

"Falsos Positivos" Second Screening

I have been continuing work on AHRC Project "Screening Violence: A Transnational Study of Post-Conflict Imaginaries" with partners in Newcastle and Bristol Universities, and works with co-investigators and partners in Algeria, Argentina, Colombia, Northern Ireland and Indonesia. Further data collection was undertaken in the summer, including the screening of the Colombian film "Falsos Positivos" in partnership with the Dungannon Film Club and a focus group following the film to engage the "social imagination of violence" on 14 June 2018. Film trailer below.

Screening Violence: "Falsos Positivos" in Northern Ireland

The field work from the AHRC Project "Screening Violence: A Transnational Study of Post-Conflict Imaginaries" with partners in Newcastle and Bristol Universities, and works with co-investigators and partners in Algeria, Argentina, Colombia, Northern Ireland and Indonesia began this month. Data collection was undertaken in partnership with the Nerve Centre which included the screening of the Colombian film "Falsos Positivos" (see details). A focus group discussion took place following the film to engage the "social imagination of violence".

Screening Violence Project

I am delighted to be part of the Screening Violence Project. Screening Violence is a four-year research and documentary filmmaking project sponsored by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). The project is based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Bristol and Ulster University, and works with co-investigators and partners in Algeria, Argentina, Colombia and Indonesia. Screening Violence is an innovative engagement with communities that have experienced prolonged and entrenched violence of different kinds: from guerrilla warfare, to state sponsored persecution of particular groups, to mass murder, to sectarian conflict. It aims to achieve a new understanding of how social imaginaries shape civil conflicts and transitions to peace. This project recognises visual culture as a key imaginary space where meaning is made about conflict and violence. We therefore engage with communities that have experienced violence through the medium of cinema and documentary film.

For more detail on the project visit the website.

To see all the posts related to this project and ongoing activities, click here.