Events
Archives and Special Collections at the University of Melbourne
Featured events
Migration, hope and illusion: Io Capitano film panel, discussion, and live performance
May
20
6:30pm - 8:30pm
Performance
This event offers a critical discussion of urgent contemporary global issues related to migration, displacement, and transnational identities through a film panel discussion of the 2023 Italian film, Io Capitano, directed by Matteo Garrone. The event will include a contextualising musical performance of Senegalese instruments and Afro-Cuban diasporic music and dance.
Io Capitano, which achieved significant international success and wide distribution, offers a powerful cinematic representation of Senegalese migration to Europe. The narrative follows the journey of two young Senegalese men from Dakar to Sicily, Italy, portraying both the extreme violence and precarity of their voyage, as well as the protagonists’ desire for adventures and a better future.
Through an analysis of selected scenes from the film, a panel of experts will discuss the geo-economic and political dynamics driving the contemporary African diaspora, as well as the impacts of migration on both people and places. Additionally, the film opens a space to explore Senegalese culture and oral traditions alongside Italian literature and storytelling, creating a compelling metatextual dialogue between the two countries. Ultimately, the themes discussed resonate with broader global patterns of migration and ongoing refugee crisis.
What to expect:
A 90-minute program of music, film, discussion and dance.
The event begins with a Senegalese musical performance of kora and cello, followed by a panel discussion with selected screenings from Io Capitano.
The event will conclude with an Afro-Cuban dance performance, accompanied by batá drums, and a final audience Q&A.
Panelists and performers:
Elisabetta Ferrari (Senior Lecturer, School of Languages and Linguistics)
Lamine Sonko (Honorary Fellow, School of Languages and Linguistics)
Eyram Ivy Sedzro (Graduate Researcher, School of Social and Political Sciences)
Santo Cilauro (Filmmaker and screenwriter, Working Dog Productions)
Adrian Hearn (Professor, School of Languages and Linguistics)
Aloy Junco (Professional dancer and drummer)
Anita Quayle (Cellist and composer)
Spotlight On: The lives of commoners in Pre-modern China
May
21
12:30pm - 1:30pm
Public Lecture
Join Rare East Asian Collection Curator Xiaoju Liu for a glimpse into the lives of commoners in Pre-modern China, a mostly untold and marginalised history absent from the pages of Dynastic records and historic narratives. Over the past two centuries archaeological excavations have unearthed historic documents offering new and fragmented insights into the lives of everyday people in a period marked by bureaucratic imperial rule. In this Spotlight program, Xiaoju will discuss rare collection items including two of the earliest known personal letters in Chinese history, written by two brothers fighting in the Qin unification wars, and 10th century divorce documents. Together these items, among others, illustrate and interrogate the divide between the perspectives captured by official histories and those of ordinary citizens.
Presented in partnership with the Public Gallery Association of Victoria’s Analog Art program, Archives and Special Collections’ Spotlight Series features archivists, librarians, curators, researchers, academics and artists. Each session spotlights the wonders our collections hold and creates an informal space for engaging in critical conversations, reflective discussions, slow looking, creative workshops, talks and much more.
