Instructions for Placemaking: Amussu
19:30–22:00
de Appel, Tolstraat 160, Amsterdam
Amussu
About Amussu by Nadir Bouhmouch
Imider, Southeastern Morocco. A rapacious silver mine has siphoned water from local aquifers for decades, drying out the almond groves belonging to an Amazigh community. Fearing their fragile oasis might disappear and their livelihoods destroyed, the villagers peacefully rebelled in 2011 and shut down a major water pipeline heading towards the mine. Eight years later, they continue to resist in a protest camp which has now turned into a small solar-powered village. However, backed by conniving intelligence services and aggressively protected by the police, Africa's biggest silver mine is no easy adversary. Dozens have been arrested for taking part of what the villagers have dubbed "Amussu xf Ubrid n '96" (Movement on Road '96). Nevertheless, the resilient villagers continue to resist with the little means they have - songs, weekly assemblies, a flimsy camera, a film festival and endless ingenuity.
After the screening, director Nadir Bouhmouch will join us virtually for a conversation.
About Our People are Our Mountains: Instructions for Placemaking
In Our People are Our Mountains (quoting from Amílcar Cabral’s words on the Guinea-Bissau's liberation movement), artists and collectives in Palestine and elsewhere who work on questions around land from different perspectives, collaborate with majelis (assembly) Jakarta by sending instructions remotely. Utilizing instructions, rather than physically transferring works or facilitating travel, stems from ethical, political, and environmental considerations. The act of sending instructions is also a way to point to the physical and symbolic distances, particularly emphasizing the profound difficulties associated with moving in and out of Palestine, especially during the ongoing genocide. This initiative, therefore, is an act of transmission and trust—artists will transmit their creative directives to counterparts in Jakarta, who will, in turn, realize, contribute to, perform, or enact the instructions in place.
In the Amsterdam iteration, the instructions will be presented, whereas some of them will be activated throughout the coming weeks. Every week of the presentation span, a new video by the participating artists and others will be screened on loop for one full exhibition week. In addition a programme of performances, workshops and gatherings will take place throughout the project span. The film screening of Amussu by Nadir Bouhmouch is part of this program
Bio
Nadir Bouhmouch is an award-winning filmmaker, writer and photographer based in Marrakech. In 2011, Nadir directed and produced his first film, 'My Makhzen & Me,' a web documentary about Morocco’s February 20th uprising. Nadir’s other works include 'Timnadin N Rif,' a performative documentary produced collectively by the community of Imider in southeastern Morocco; and 'Paradises of the Earth,' a short web documentary series on the environmental causes of the Tunisian revolution. Currently touring at film festivals, his latest work and first feature, 'Amussu' is also produced collectively by the community of Imider and is about their eight-year long revolt against Africa’s biggest silver mine. In addition to his work in film, Nadir is also a researcher, activist and writer focusing on film criticism and revolutionary film theory but also on rural uprisings, land rights and environmental justice in Morocco’s marginalised regions. His written work has been published in Aljazeera, the Middle East Eye, Counterpunch and Jadaliyya.
