“But Where Are You Really From?”: T A P E collective’s season of films at the BFI

Interviewed and written by Dalia Al-Dujaili.

“But where’re you really from?” The age-old question. Cue imposter syndrome, alienation - at the least, boredom. This controversial question, though frustrating in its commonality can act as a brilliant creative catalyst, forcing many diasporic individuals to examine their own notions of identity, nationhood and belonging.

Azeema had the pleasure of catching up with the female-led T A P E crew - Isra, Angela and Nellie - to discuss their week-long takeover of the BFI’s online channels and month-long season at BFI Southbank. Screening films spanning the African, Middle Eastern and South Asian diaspora, and featuring talks from the likes of director Ngozi Onwurah, all pieces interrogate that question. T A P E Collective and their season ‘But Where Are You Really From?’ runs at BFI Southbank throughout July. Tickets are on sale now at bfi.org.uk/whatson.

Dalia: Hey guys! So, how’s the takeover going so far?

Isra: It's just been really exciting to be able to do exactly what we want to do, putting the content out there and seeing who's engaging with it. And if it's not our people, how they engage with it.

Angela: It was really intense and I think we were super ambitious with it. There were a lot of things that happened over the last week; we took over all the newsletters, we did the zine, the video essay, the roundtable, the IG Live, The Twitter spaces session, the message board, the Spotify playlists.

Am I right in saying that the title of the season tickets take its cue from Riz Ahmed’s short piece or is it just kind of a coincidence that they're the same issue.

Isra: Coincidence. So, it started off with just the general question, “but where are you really from?” That was the one that triggered the most sentiment; I think most people, whether they're children of immigrants or are mixed or whatever it is, get questioned about their identity. And then we just tried to feed as much content, films and music into it.

Angela: There are so many people talking about it in so many different ways. It wasn’t actually that hard to find material which not only responded to that question, but also explored the wording too.

What is it that you're so passionate about in terms of representation on screen and why do you think it's so important?

Isra: I think film is incredibly powerful and I think it cannot be a throwaway thing when you talk about entertainment. It's an incredibly powerful thing and it can change people's mindsets. Films can shift and change how people feel about themselves.

One example is my son reclaiming his identity because he now sees Muslims on TikTok making jokes about Halal stuff, which I didn't have when I was growing up because I grew up in Sweden. It's easier now for him to go, yeah, I’m Muslim. But he definitely needed that push from external forces or something that's cool and trendy, that he sees is not so deep, not so serious. What we're trying to say is you should just be allowed to be who you are.

Angela: One of the things that sparked the beginnings of T A P E was us wanting to share the content we found with an audience, other like-minded people or other people who were looking for the same things we were and not finding it in traditional cinema spaces. It's just recognizing that there's plenty of space within the screen industries to show more than just one thing.

On our Twitter space conversation that we had last week, one of the filmmakers we had was talking about how she's British Somali but that her British Somali experience isn't necessarily the same as another Somali and there are things that are specific to her. She’s not trying to speak for a whole people, but the film industries should be allowing various Somali people to be making their own films.

Nellie: Representation gives you a baseline of comfort. It's really difficult for someone from a certain background to feel comfortable demonstrating that. Every human being is unique, but it’s very difficult for someone from a mixed background to explain their position if you have to spend time explaining something on a very surface level or tell people what they want to hear when it comes to that question, “where are you from?” So, to make yourself fit in, you have to erase part of your identity or educate people constantly, which is exhausting. Art is a way that we feel found and connected, it allows other people to feel confident talking about their uniqueness.

‘What Will People Say?’, courtesy of the BFI.

Tell me a bit about the short film programme, which includes some brilliant SWANA female filmmakers.

Isra: Every feature film is introduced by a short film. And then we also added a few shorts to the player, which is quite huge, and that's the one that we've had the most positive response on because there are people who never thought that their films would be on there. And then we're having a separate shorts program which is from submissions, which I think the BFI haven't done unless it's as part of festivals, but in terms of just a public program, they haven't done that before.

What film from the shorts program stood out to you each?

Angela: So, it’s called, ‘Sorry, My Somali Is Not Very Good,’ by the British Somali director Warda Mohamed. It's a really beautiful mixture of moving collages and photographs. It’s essentially about a young woman who is struggling to speak her mother tongue and she's having a conversation with her father through the art of storytelling. Storytelling in quite a few cultures is very essential but things get remixed all the time so there's always different versions of the same story. So through folklore, her father encouraged her to keep going. To stay connected to language.

Nellie: In terms of thinking about a story that really reflects your personal experience, ‘Cedar Wood And Silk.’ What I related to most about it was that the mum is obsessed with making gowns and clothes. My mom is like that, she'll help you buy the bag that goes with the shoes and she dressed us when we were younger, whereas I've always been the tomboy who, in a joking way, gets told I don't have any respect for my appearance. So I related to that.

Also the ‘Homeland Trilogy.’ Asena Nour Oyzoyn’s done a three-part short piece that looks at the immigrant experience from different generations.

Isra: I love them all, but I would say ‘Like A Fish Out Of Water’ because it's three minutes and intense. It's not on the player but screening as part of our Southbank season. It’s about coming to terms with identity and trying to strip off identity to appease others and there's something quite internal that needs to come out. It's visceral. I think a lot of the conversations we've had around the season is that there's just a little bit of resentment, a frustration that I think we all have been taught to sort of set aside or just play alongside with. And I think that actually this month we're not playing along. I see that frustration. It's just… it's beautiful.

Finally, what have you guys got lined up after this month?

Isra: We're at Brainchild Festival, we do quite a lot of women-led stuff so that’s more about touch and sexuality. We're also going to be at Aesthetica with a program about British Muslim women, exploring experimental documentary filmmaking to capture their identities.

We want to continue the sort of themes about where you're really from, both with just general content like across arts but also with new releases that might tap into that question. Things like ‘Minari’ and ‘Limbo’ and ‘Polystyrene’ that came out this year, those new releases that we want to explore more of. But also to work with communities already doing things, like Azeema does! In terms of conversations about diaspora and finding your roots and exploring identity, I think there's quite a lot out there that we just want to put into one, accessible space.

Watch the programmed films on BFI Player here and follow T A P E here.