DEFA Film Library to Participate in German Studies Association Conference

After two years of virtual conferences, the DEFA Film Library will participate in the 2022 German Studies Association (GSA) Conference that will take place from Sept. 15-18 in Houston, Texas.

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Besides working an information table, DEFA will host Black German director Branwen Okpako as their featured guest. The director will present two of her films during an arts night and be part of a panel discussion “The Films of Branwen Okpako.”

Young researchers, including Mariana Ivanova, UMass Amherst; Karina Griffith, University of Toronto; Jeffrey Wallen, Hampshire College; and Bisola Ajibade, University of Florida; will explore the stories and rich imagery in the films of the director for the first time at GSA. The panel builds on the program with Branwen Okpako that was part of the DEFA Film Library’s 2020-21 virtual film festival, “Black Lives in Germany: Resilience – Art - Hope.” The Q&A from that event is available in FILMBOX, DEFA’s free Digital Teaching Archive.

DEFA’s GSA events are co-sponsored by the German Film Office, the Black German Heritage and Research Center, Rice University's Dept. of Modern and Classical Languages and Cultures and GSA.