This event is a film screening organised with the Decolonise LSE Collective. Benedetta Argentieri’s documentary I am the Revolution will be screened which focuses on feminist revolutions taking place in Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan.

These countries has been torn apart by decades of war, and are, according to international indexes, among the worst places on earth to live as a woman. By following three women, Selay Ghaffar, Rojda Felat, and Yanar Mohammed, and the movements around them, the documentary explores how they are leading the way for a new future for women in their countries. 

Each country reflects the groundswell of feminist revolutions: political revolution in Afghanistan, armed in Syria, and grassroots activism in Iraq. Taking a journalistic approach, the film challenges the images of veiled, silent, and timid women in the Middle East and instead shows the strength of women rising up on the front lines, in remote villages, and in city streets, to claim their voice and their rights.

There will be a panel discussion following the film screening. 

Benedetta Argentieri is an independent journalist and director who has been covering the Iraqi and Syrian war since 2014. She produced “Capulcu-Voices from Gezi,” a documentary about the revolt that occurred in Gezi Park in Istanbul, Turkey. In 2016 she co-directed “Our War,” a documentary about foreigners joining the Kurds in Syria to fight the Islamic State. The film was selected at the 73rd Venice Film Festival, in the out of competition section.

Quhramaana Kakar is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Women, Peace and Security at the LSE. She is a a peace activist and a development practitioner, and founder and director of Women for Peace and Participation, an organisation providing platforms for communities in conflict regions and diaspora communities in UK and Europe.

Elif Sarican is an activist in the Kurdish Women's Movement and former UK Coordinator of the Kurdistan Students Union. Elif is an anthropologist at the London School of Economics.

Dr Michael Mason is Director of the Middle East Centre. He is also Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Environment and Associate of the Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment.

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