Filmhuis Cavia unearths a true masterpiece of Dutch cinema. Arguably Johan van der Keuken’s most important piece of work, the Amsterdam-born director here takes on the near-impossible task of developing a picture of Amsterdam in all of its different communities and identities. What results from it is nothing short of a long love letter to the city in all of its 180 nationalities.
In typical van der Keuken’s style, he strings together many different stories, from attending a Ghanian funeral to dancing at the Roxy club, and from a traditional fishmonger in the Jordaan to the living room of a Chechen refugee. The tour guide on this journey through the city is Khalid, a courier crossing the city on a moped, carrying film rolls and prints.
The film was published in 1996, just a few years before the emergence of an increasingly harsh public debate against migration in the Netherlands, eventually leading to the affirmation of far-right and racist politicians such as Geert Wilders.

Amsterda Global Village
Johan van der Keuken | 1996 | NL | 245’ | EN subtitles

Public discussion
To put the film in perspective with the development of Amsterdam since then, the screening will be followed by a talk where the current situation of the city will be explored. The talk will be centered around the question: What is the role of free spaces in creating and/or maintaining a diverse, inspiring and affordable global village?

We will be having this talk with:

Wouter Pocornie, 1986, is an architect, urbanist, and researcher. As a student and now as a professional, he has gained national and international experience in the field, often working from within the community. Currently, Wouter is involved in various (self-initiated) projects through his practice 26H, through which he is frequently engaged in projects beyond his immediate discipline. Wouter works as a community-based professional via Bijlmer Believers 3.0 on spatial strategies and community building within the Southeast borough of Amsterdam: research, design, community building, and archiving. He was a Partner at Prospect Eleven, played a foundational role in its establishment at the Karspeldreef 14. He was a co-founder of The Black Archives Bijlmer and continues this community archive as Bijlm3r Heritage. He was founder of the artist-in-residency program ST4YNY4L4NE and co-founder of a social program ST4Y NGTR, which both focus on the Arts and community building. Wouter is also engaged in various additional activities. He was a member of the Programming Council of Architectuurcentrum Amsterdam (Arcam); Advisory Committee Member and former Scout Amsterdam at Stimuleringsfonds Creatieve Industrie; Advisory Committee Member at Amsterdam Fonds voor de Kunst; he was part of the Advisory Council for Adviesraad Naamgeving Openbare Ruimte (ANOR) of the City of Amsterdam; formerly part of the Advisory Group of the Amsterdam Museum. Wouter moderates or participates in public talks on topics such as gentrification and urban issues with a social or cultural focus. He frequently provides guest lectures and is a guest lecturer at various colleges and universities in the Netherlands.

LI Yuchen (1991) is a mother, an artist, and a community weaver, learning to return to live in communality with Earth. Her artistic practice is a journey through migration, memory, and diasporic belonging. Rooted in embodied knowledges, her work seeks to restore the relationships, magic, and knowledge systems erased by modernity, inviting us to reconnect with ancestral wisdom and the pluriverse.
Yuchen is the co-founder of a diasporic film platform Asian Movie Night (AMN). Established as a direct response to the systematic lack of Asian representation in the Dutch cultural scene, AMN brings in radically different narratives and aesthetics to a broad audience through collaboration with various cultural venues. With an interdisciplinary approach that integrates film, visual art, design, and dialogue, AMN aims to challenge the notion of 'Asianness' by transcending nation-state borders and resisting fixed identities.

Yannesh Meijman (1995, Amsterdam) is a filmmaker, mediamaker, and organizer, and a graduate of the Sandberg Instituut. He believes that spatial justice is under pressure in Dutch cities, and from this perspective, he creates socio-poetic works, such as films, videos, installations, and social spaces, that visualize and address his concerns.
His debut documentary film Hotel Mokum, produced by 100% and Radio Voorwaarts, had its world premiere during IDFA ’23. Hotel Mokum had a cinema release in the Netherlands, distributed by Gusto Entertainment. As of late, he has been managing Kromme Stad, an initiative that hosts local film screenings and curates a digital film archive. Next to his own practice, Yannesh works as a freelance editor.

Isis van der Wel has been active as a DJ, composer and producer since the early 90s. Since 2000 she has also worked as an organizer and curator (including at Ruigoord) and has realized hundreds of multidisciplinary programs for various clubs, stages, festivals and museums. Ranging from electronic music, live music, theater, poetry to wellness, philosophy and debate. In addition to her activities as an artist and curator, she has developed herself as a coach and advisor in, in particular, the creative sector. From 2010 to 2012, Isis was the night mayor of Amsterdam. In this role, she was at the cradle of the current Amsterdam 24-hour permits. Since her position as Night Mayor, she has been part of the creative expert team of the municipality of Amsterdam. In 2019, she mainly serves as a board member of the Amsterdam Arts Council and she is chair of the Music (theater) Committee on behalf of the Arts Council. In 2020, she also joined the CAWA committee as a member with the expertise Autonomous International Artist. As of June 2022, she will be chair of CAWA.

Ivo Schmetz moved to Amsterdam after graduating from art school in Maastricht. By accident he rolled into the squatting scene and was involved in squatting the OLVG hospital (1998-1999) and the OT301 (1999-now). Living and working in these experimental free spaces have inspired him to not only work on an individual level as a graphic designer and video maker but also explore collective projects. Besides still being involved in the OT301 as a board member, music/cinema programmer and designer he is co-founder of Basserk records (2005-now), co-founder of design agency 310k (2003-2023) and one of the initiators and driving forces of Amsterdam Alternative (2015-now). Besides publishing a bi-monthly free newspaper (since 2015) Amsterdam Alternative is an online platform and collective organizer of lots of public discussions, music events, docu screenings and other small scale, non-commercial events. Under the umbrella of Amsterdam Alternative Ivo has also developed a project called Vrij Beton (for realizing new, collectively owned free spaces) and created the extended, multimedia webdocu about collective ownership. 
Ivo is always in search of ways to combine his interestes in graphic design, music, free spaces, writing, activism, video making, autonomy, interaction, experiment and collectivity. Not only because he enjoys it but also in order to create with a purpose.

The talk will be moderated by
Luisa González (she/they) is a film researcher and programmer from Cali, Colombia, based in Amsterdam since 2018. She is part of Filmhuis Cavia’s team, and co-organises Cinema Colombiano and Porn Film Festival Amsterdam.

And of course you are welcome to actively join the talk.


Music
After the talk there will be some music and drinks

The talk and music after the talk are free entrance!

Program:
15:00-19:00 hrs: Film screening (€5 entrance)
19:00-20:00 hrs: Food and drinks
20:00-21:00 hrs: Talk (Free entrance)
21:00-22:30 hrs: Music (Free entrance)

Tickets:
It is possible to pre-buy tickets for the event on the website of Amsterdam Alternative, either for €5 or through Cineville. Please note that in case you decide for a Cineville ticket, your Cineville card will need to be scanned at the door. Even in the event of pre-sale tickets being sold out, some tickets will be reserved for door sale."


Filmhuis Cavia  
Times: 15:00-22:30 uur
Address: Van Hallstraat 52-I (upstairs)
Entrance: €5 or Cineville.

Watch a short preview of Amsterdam Global Village