2018

It’s the most wonderful time of the year… to discuss foreign affairs! And what better topic to tackle than Turkey. As you explore the complexities of Turkey, SIFA will provide free coffee and lunch! Welcome!

"It’s one of the greatest, most audacious, most original documentaries ever made" writes Richard Brody in The New Yorker.  Chronicle of a Summer is a documentary about the everyday lives of ordinary Parisians, done in the style of cinéma vérité, filmed in 1961.

How are things interrelated? “What pattern connects the crab to the lobster,” muses anthropologist, philosopher, and systems theorist Gregory Bateson in this award-winning film, the making of filmmaker Nora Bateson’s tribute to her late father.

(Still) A Modern Prometheus: The enduring appeal of Frankenstein. Why has this novel fascinated us for 200 years?

A modern Cannibal Tale: This film is the story of an aged anthropologist and artist who returns to The Amazon and Papua New Guinea to meet friends he has not seen for 40 years, after having spent intense time with them and being absent for so long.

What can peace look like in Syria, seven years after the revolution that ended up as a devastating civil war? 

The rise of the far right in Europe is a terrifying phenomenon that leaves many befuddled. It seems unstoppable; it seems like a feat of muscular men. But is it either of these things? 

Much has been written about democracy (or the lack of it), political Islam and violence in the Middle East after the ‘Arab Spring’. But how do these aspects relate to the realities of everyday life in the post-revolutionary Arab world? And aren’t there many other matters that are much more important to ‘ordinary’ Arabs than these three catchwords of western media coverage?

"Stephens wants us to think of rock and Christianity not as enemies but as siblings engaged in a family dispute." Kelefa Sanneh, The New Yorker. Welcome to the launch of Randall Stephens' new book The Devil's Music. How Christians Inspired, Condemned and Embraced Rock 'n' Roll.

Visually spectacular, with breathtaking images of the faithful at Varanassi, the ritual capital of Hindu India, this film is one of the most marking pieces of cinema on the matter of religion, religiosity and ritual. 

Poetic, witty, ironic, artsy and –most of all- endlessly fun in the most quirky way, Patrick Keiller’s visual project is an elegy to post-industrial society.

Theodoros Rakopoulos has done fieldwork on anti-mafia cooperatives that work on land that has been confiscated from the mafia in rural Sicily. His book is an ethnography of a mafia-influenced village and examines social relations in and around Sicilian Cooperatives.

Want to join us down in the world of books? A group of artists will bring you down to the closed stacks and read aloud from a variety of texts. It's free and open to the public!

The book analyses in-depth interviews with former child refugees from Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, residing in Norway. The individuals’ representations of belonging were examined in light of the violent conflict that lead to their migration, their personal immigration experiences and their time growing up and residing in Norway. Welcome to the launch of Dragana Kovačević Bielicki's book “Born in Yugoslavia – Raised in Norway. Former child refugees and belonging”

MusicLab vol.2 explores the concept of breath sensing and its wide range of applications from scientific to artistic. All within MusicLab’s unique blend of research and edutainment through hands-on workshops (separate event with registration), intellectual warm-ups, performances and data jockeying.

The event will be streamed live. Free entrance and open for everyone!