Author: Lotus Films

Impossible Conversations: a new film & exhibition Jan 18 – Feb 8, 2025

Stamps Gallery 201 South Division Street Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Impossible Conversations is an exhibition and film installation by artists and filmmakers, Pratāp Rughani and David Chung. The film centres on a seemingly impossible dialogue between Arno Michaelis, a former Neo-Nazi gang founder and Pardeep Kaleka, son of the Sikh Temple President, Satwant Singh Kaleka, one of seven people killed in the shooting attack at the Oak Creek Sikh Temple (Gurudwara) by a white supremacist in 2012. 

The film installation explores what happens when – for over a decade – Pardeep and Arno committed to a path of restorative communication — to listen deeply and connect with what motivates each other in the genesis and aftermath of atrocity.

How does healing begin? From the toxic polarization, division and extreme racist violence that resulted in one of the worst mass shootings at a religious site in American history, Pardeep insists that complete healing must eventually be a collective process for all, to liberate both sides.

Conference Presentation at European (ELIA) EDI Platform Meeting “Taking Space, Making Space” 15.4.24

ELIA Conference: “Arts Education at the edges of Freedom: wrestling with Europe’s hatreds”. Conference WorkshopIn this conference presentation, Pratap Rughani asks: How do artists and educators relate to the rise of populism and respond to those who use democratic freedoms to undermine democratic values? Using a ‘fishbowl’ methodology of focused discussion we explore prompts from the edges of difficult conversations: * how to work with those who seek to break democratic freedoms from the inside? * What are the edges of free speech and freedom of expression in an increasingly polarised environment? * Is dialogue possible and if so how to we achieve this? * What are ‘safe’ and ‘brave’ spaces and the conditions of meaningful dialogue – especially if we strongly disagree? * What can we learn from Europe’s lethal dances with neo-fascism, xenophobia and racism? A short provocation/presentation interleaves with workshop elements. This session configures a space where participants can work through what dialogue means in learning environments, including arts practice examples.

Chair for “The Gangster, the Politician and the Filmmaker” 28 Nov 2023.

Professor Rughani chaired a review and discussion produced by Iris Wakulenko at London College of Communication of the work of director Penny Woolcock, with activist and advocate Simeon Moore, UAL Vice Chancellor & President James Purnell, producer of “One Mile Away”.

The Creative Laboratory: Searching and Researching through Practice 23 June 23

UAL launches the first in a series of international research conferences – see the full programme here.

The Creative Laboratory: Searching and Researching through Practice, explores the intersection of creativity and critical thinking via practice as research, through addressing the issues of today.  

“An abiding theme in my work is how to rebuild the ‘connective tissue’ of a culture in the aftermath of violence and atrocity. In this short presentation, I explore some new footage from a forthcoming gallery installation Chambers of the Heart (2024) working with visionary people who dare to develop dialogue in the aftermath of unspeakable loss. What might be born when victims and perpetrators seek to see what can be recovered in each other’s humanity? Can such stories offer a new path through polarisation to help interrupt the slide towards toxic polarisation to alienation or hatred?” Pratāp Rughani.

A recording of the “Chambers of the Heart” presentation by Pratāp Rughani is here.

Professor Pratāp Rughani, Documentary Filmmaker, Associate Dean of Research, London College of Communication UAL and Professor in Documentary Practices, is currently developing a project based on restorative practices and the development of dialogue in the aftermath of conflict, including navigating tensions between ‘free’ speech and hate speech.

Ordinary Notes: Christina Sharpe reading and discussion 6 June 2023, CSM 6 – 7.30 pm

Professor Pratap Rughani joins Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor David Mba University of the Arts London in responding to the readings of “Ordinary Notes”, at Central St Martins, Kings Cross, London N1C 4AA, book here.

“A singular achievement, Christina Sharpe’s Ordinary Notes explores, with immense care, profound questions about loss, pain and beauty; private memory and public monument; art; complexity; and the shapes of Black life that emerge in the wake. In a series of 248 brief and urgent notes that cumulatively gather meaning, artefacts from the past – both public ones and the poignantly personal – are skilfully interwoven with present-day realities and possible futures, intricately constructing an immersive portrait of everyday Black existence.”

Christina Sharpe is Professor and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Black Studies in the Humanities at York University in Toronto and the author of Monstrous Intimacies: Making Post-Slavery Subjects (Duke 2010), In the Wake: On Blackness and Being (Duke 2016) and Ordinary Notes (Knopf/FSG/Daunt 2023).

Ferryman of Memories: The Films of Rithy Panh by Deidre Boyle book launch + conversation 30 Mar 2023

THURSDAY | MAR 30 | 5–6:30 PM | Eastern Time (US and Canada)
VIRTUAL BOOK LAUNCH + CONVERSATION
REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT
FERRYMAN OF MEMORIES: The Films of Rithy Panh
(MARCH 2023, RUTGERS UNIVERSITY PRESS)Conversation with author DEIRDRE BOYLE and writer VICENTE SÁNCHEZ BIOSCA (University of Valéncia). Moderated by filmmaker PRATAP RUGHANI (University of the Arts, London). The book, Ferryman of Memories: The Films of Rithy Panh features the story of award-winning filmmaker Panh, a survivor of the Cambodian genocide who moved to France, and discovered a film language to tell what happened to the over two million souls who suffered at the hands of the Khmer Rouge.

Steel Shutter Revisited, 50th Anniversary Conference, Belfast, 1 Dec 2022

On 1 December 2022, an anniversary event was held, of interest to stakeholders in: peace and reconciliation, education, conflict resolution, trauma, psychotherapy, legacy studies, counselling.

In 1972 at the height of the violent Troubles in Northern Ireland a group of people including the famous psychologist Carl Rogers, attempted something radical. Taking great risks for all involved they flew nine stakeholders (5 Protestants and 4 Catholics) from Ireland to Pittsburgh and filmed a three-day encounter group. The highlights of this process were captured on a video called The Steel Shutter. On the 1st of December, exactly 50 years to the day we are hosting a conference to revisit this achievement in peace and reconciliation.

We believe that this encounter is more relevant today than ever.

Speakers will be analyzing the past, taking stock of the present, and looking to the future:

Peace Fire – Dr. Michael R. Montgomery

The Forgiveness Project – Marina Cantacuzino, MBE

University of the Arts London – Professor Pratap Rughani

Glencree Centre for Peace and Reconciliation – Naoimh McNamee, CEO

Researcher, Vienna – Dr. Michael Weiss

Researcher, Dublin – Robert Barry, MA

Author – Dr. Tony Mcauley

ELIA Biennial Conference 23 – 26 Nov 22

The conference No stone unturned was held at the University of Arts, Helsinki, Finland.

Professor Rughani was in conversation with the keynote speakers.

“ELIA Biennial 2022 seeks to create an open exploratory space for all. A place where the unique complexities facing higher arts education today can be picked up, turned over and closely examined to see what lies beneath. We want to look at all sides from all angles. Run our fingers down the cracks, study the joins, take the rough with the smooth and discover those hidden gems.”

ELIA is a globally connected European network that provides a dynamic platform for exchange and development in higher arts education.