The Tempest Society
Bouchra Khalili in conversation with Joachim Ben Yakoub
Friday 5 April 2024 at 8.30pm
K1 - KANAL-Centre Pompidou
Co-presentation KANAL-Centre Pompidou & L’Art Rue
The Tempest Society is neither documentary nor fiction, but rather a hypothesis. Three Athenians from different backgrounds form a group to examine the current state of Greece, Europe, and the Mediterranean. They get together on a theatre stage that is being used as a public space. They call themselves The Tempest Society in tribute to Al Assifa ('the tempest' in Arabic), a theatrical troupe consisting mainly of North African immigrant workers and French students with North African heritage that was active in 1970s Paris. Al Assifa used the format of a ‘theatrical newspaper’ to communicate the everyday struggles of immigrants against inequality and racism in France.
Forty years later, Al Assifa’s legacy is being revived. On a theatre stage, the Tempest Society and their guests call for equality, a sense of citizenship, and solidarity.
The film is followed by a conversation with Bouchra Khalili and Joachim Ben Yakoub.