CFI EDUCATION PRESENTS
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH STORYCENTER
STORIES OF HOME
VIRTUAL SCREENINGS + PRE-RECORDED CONVERSATIONS WITH FILMMAKERS
AVAILABLE FRIDAY, FEB. 19 • SUNDAY, FEB. 28
Stories of Home is a dynamic digital storytelling initiative developed by Berkeley-based StoryCenter in partnership with Wellness in Action, a program of the East Bay nonprofit Center for Empowering Refugees and Immigrants. Through storytelling, art-making, video production, and participatory media, the project empowers immigrants and refugees to explore their unique, personal narratives and memories of “home” as place, experience, belonging, and feeling. Since 2017 Stories of Home has produced more than 15 different films in their workshops, and in 2020 they expanded their filmmaking techniques to include virtual reality (VR).
In this program, we will screen both 2D and 3D (VR) stories from three inspirational women—refugees from Tibet, Bhutan, and Afghanistan and immigrants to the Bay Area—who participated in Stories of Home workshops. Each pair of films will be followed by a conversation with the storyteller and StoryCenter Artist-in-Residence Parul Wadhwa, a new media artist and immersive storyteller who developed the Stories of Home VR project and collaborated on each of the 3D stories. Total program 60 min.
FEATURED FILMS:
Artwork by: Sufee Yama
MY JOURNEY TO FIND HOME (2D)
THE PRAYER BOOK (3D)
By Ngawang Lama
Ngawang Lama was born in Nepal to Tibetan parents who left their country due to the Chinese occupation. She was brought up in Nepal and India, and has to date never visited her home country (Tibet). Ngawang immigrated to the U.S. in 2017, with her husband and their two children. She currently works as a nursing assistant in an assisted-living facility in Berkeley and is attending classes to become a registered nurse.
Artwork by: Patricia Rojas-Zambrano
WALKING FREE (2D)
THE RED RIBBON (3D)
By Anju Subba
Anju Subba arrived in the U.S. in 2010, as part of the resettlement of Nepalis who escaped ethnic cleansing in Bhutan. She lived and worked in the Bay Area as an aesthetician and a leader serving the Bhutanese refugee community before moving earlier this year to Pennsylvania.
Artwork by: Esther Elia
LESSON ONE: APRICOTS (2D)
THE POET (3D)
By Nahid Fattahi
Nahid Fattahi is an Afghan-American writer, activist, and mental health practitioner who uses storytelling and poetry to create new narratives for refugees and others whose voices are often silenced. She currently works in the Bay Area as an adjunct professor of psychology and as a psychotherapist.
THIS STREAMING EVENT IS FREE, BUT TICKETS ARE REQUIRED
The production of these films was supported in part by a private family foundation in the San Francisco Bay Area; the East Bay Community Foundation Fund for Artists; and the California Arts Council, a state agency.
THANK YOU TO OUR PRESENTING PARTNER
