What does justice feel like? And is catharsis – a term meaning “to cleanse or to purge” – just, and thus, a right? The systemic answer to this question would surely be no; emotional release bears no relationship to power inequities and the violence they enable. And yet, today’s nonfiction landscape is crowded with social issue films that would seem to have substituted the provocation of feeling for the exploration of politics. This conversation focuses on the moral and emotional desire for catharsis from our courts and screens. It will trace the intertwined histories of the victim’s rights movement, carceral feminism, and cinema, and it will look to the future, exploring why we might want a cinema that leaves us wanting. Panellists include:

Gargi Battarchayya is Director of the Sarah Parker Remond Centre for the Study of Racism and Racialisation at University College London. Professor Bhattacharyya is the author of The Futures of Racial Capitalism (Polity, 2022), Rethinking Racial Capitalism (Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), and Traffick: The Illicit Movement of People and Things(Pluto, 2005), amongst other works.

Brett Story is an award-winning filmmaker, geographer, and writer. Her films have screened in festivals around the world, including Sundance, CPH-DOX, the Viennale, SXSW, True/False, and Sheffield DocFest. Brett is the author of the book Prison Land: Mapping Carceral Power Across Neoliberal America, and she holds a PhD in Geography from the University of Toronto, where she is an assistant professor of Cinema Studies.

Rehana Zaman  is an artist living and working in London. Her work speaks to notions of kinship and sociality, seeking out possibilities of intimacy and transgression within hostile contexts. Conversation and cooperative methods sit at the heart of her films which extend into texts, performances and group work.

Presented in collaboration with World Records Journal.

This event is included in the Rich Mix Venue Pass. Pass holders can book a free ticket to this event and all other screenings and events taking place at Rich Mix as part of the festival. More information on the pass can be found here.