Wojciech Smarzowski’s ‘Rose’ sparks a debate at the BFI

I recently  took part in a panel discussion on Wojciech Smarzowski’s 2011 war drama ‘Rose’ which was screened as part of Refugee Week at BFI Southbank, London, June 18th.

The screening was organised by David Somerset of the BFI who invited me because I was a member of Human Rights Jury of the Cairo Film Festival that awarded ‘Rose’ the Tahrir Square Prize in December 2012. (How bitterly ironic the word “Tahrir” meaning “liberation” is now).

The other contributors,  a Professor of History from LSE, and representatives of UNHCR and the Refugee Council, were seeing the film not only as a film but as reference to many other things.  

Film does not exist in vacuum and certainly ROSE does not. This debate was well received at the Institute and shows how necessary it is to have public discussion about cinema.

We have edited a clip of the panel debate filmed by the BFI. It opens with an introduction to the film from the historian Anita Prażmowska.

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Camera was Ace Ashun, who had to shoot from a poor position due to health and safety regulations at the National Film Theatre.

A number of audience contributions followed but sadly the sound quality was not good enough to include them.        

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