How can the past be rendered when archives are absent or surface only at the editing stage? This program pairs two short documentaries by Aylin Gökmen that pursue formally grounded responses.

Spirits and Rocks: An Azorean Myth (15’, 2020) interleaves present-tense cinematography with mythology, archival materials and creative sound design to reopen an island’s memory. Ever Since, I Have Been Flying (20’, 2023) confronts archival scarcity by constructing a poetic testimony of a nomadic Kurdish youth through voice-over and analogue materiality. Across both works, audiovisual aesthetics and techniques function as conduits for remembering when images are partial or belated.

As a PhD candidate in Film and Moving Image Studies at Concordia, Aylin Gökmen is investigating these post-archival strategies; rather than offering definitive answers, the conversation invites the audience to examine non-fiction films’ evidentiary claims and surface their ethical and political stakes, including what may remain unanswerable.

Screening followed by a conversation moderated by filmmaker/anthropologist Andrea Bordoli and an audience Q&A.

Location: Peterson Hall 108