T A P E Collective Shorts: Call Me By My Name

Film description

The third in a three-part series presented by T A P E Collective, of programmes of short films by mixed heritage filmmakers, around the themes of identity and heritage, exploring othering, belonging and the trouble of melting pots.

It’s an experience not uncommon within a diaspora to have your name viewed as too foreign or exotic, and subject to either whitewashing or clumsy - and sustained - mispronunciation. Expanding on the theme, the Call Me By My Name programme will look at the wider ideas of labels and definitions of identity and heritage.

Bumpkin Files is a multi-media platform, community resource, and archive which explores Black life in Britain beyond London. In this exhibition, Bumpkin Files highlights the often overlooked areas of the diaspora.

What’s in a Name? (UK, 2020, dir Runyararo Mapfumo, 11min)

In this documentary short, Brits explore the challenges they’ve encountered with their non-Western names.

But You’re Not Black (Canada, 2019, dir Danielle Ayow, 19min)

A Chinese-Caribbean-Canadian woman tries to embrace her parents’ Trinidadian identity and traces back her roots.

Rice & Bread (UK, 2019, dir Greta Griniute, 5min)

A monotonous night in a south London takeaway is ‘enlightened’ when a delivery driver is reminded of a contentious theory he learnt on YouTube.

5 Stars (UK, 2021, dir Remi Itani, Aneesha Lowni, 13min)

Across three Uber journeys, a woman of colour explains who she is to people who have already made their mind up. A poignant exploration of cultural lines and the desire for connection.

Stranger Baby (USA, 1995, dir. Lana Lin, 14mins)

Substituting sly metaphor for political rhetoric on immigration, Lin examines our world of ethical and racial complexities.

Once an Old Lady Sat On My Chest (UK, 2017, dir Candice Onyeama, 13min)

A magical realism short about a young British Nigerian woman who is forced to deal with her identity crises when a mysterious old woman squats on chest.

Northern Great Mountain - Stoerre Vaerie (Sweden, 2015, dir. Amanda Kernell, 15min)

Elle, 78 claims that she is completely Swedish and has grown a resentment for Sami people even though she speaks Sami and grew up in the Mountains in Lapland. Under pressure from her son, she reluctantly returns north for her sister's funeral.

This screening contains sequences that may affect those with photosensitive epilepsy.

Header image: Rice & Bread (dir Greta Griniute)