Members of the French research team of the Transnational Families in Europe: Care, Inequalities and Wellbeing project presented two documentaries at a seminar in Aix-en-Provence (Aix Marseille University) in October 2023. The documentaries drew on recent ethnographic research with transnational families. These documentaries and the process by which they were created had been reviewed previously at the May 2023 seminar of the Mimed research network on migration.

Postdoctoral researcher Polina Palash and filmmaker Luc Thauvin (Compagnie IVA, Ciné Le Miroir) presented the documentary “Loin des yeux près du cœur / Lejos de los ojos, cerca del corazón” which they shot in France (Provence) and Colombia (Medelin and Bogota). The film focuses on intergenerational care in a Colombian transnational family in which women have a prominent role.

Gaël Marsaud, Assaf Dahdah, Polina Palash and Luc Thauvin presenting the two documentaries at the Mimed seminar at Aix-Marseille University in May 2023

 

Researcher Assaf Dahdah (geographer, CNRS, ART-Dev) then presented the documentary “Autour du Tanur / Dora Tenûrê” that he made with filmmaker Gaël Marsaud (video artist and sociologist, Primitivi) and Burhan Roto. Burhan is a member of the Yezidi family from Iraq on which this participatory project focuses, combining research, memory and aesthetic gesture.

The films are examples of social science research outputs that make use of the creative arts to communicate findings. This approach makes the findings accessible to a wide range of audiences, and has been well- received by both the general public and the researcher and student communities.

Valentina Napolitano (sociologist, IRD, LPED, Aix Marseille University, France, and member of the Transnational Families in Europe research project) and Valentina Mazzucato (Professor of Globalisation and Development at Maastricht University) led the seminar discussion following the screenings. The seminars were chaired by Virginie Baby-Collin (Professor of Geography, Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, Telemme), Co-Investigator and France Team Leader for the Transnational Families in Europe project and Director of the Mimed research network.

Luc Thauvin, Virginie Baby-Collin and Polina Palash presenting the documentary “Loin des yeux près du cœur / Lejos de los ojos, cerca del corazón” at the Mimed seminar at Aix-Marseille University in October 2023

The films will be available to view on our project website from summer 2024 when we launch the key outputs of the project.

For further information, please contact:

Virginie Baby-Collin, Email: virginie.baby-collin@univ-amu.fr