SHORT FILM SCREENINGS / SPOKEN WORD / Q&A SESSION
29th August 2025 – Stadsmuseet Stockholm – approx 75 mins
War Daughter is a poetics of resistance. A place where expressions of displacement, memory and story come together through the moving image and the spoken word.
The event will comprise the screening of JP Bichard and Ala Riani’s short art film ‘War Daughter’, a short film by Kurdish artist and academic Savaş Boyraz, a reading from Ala Riani’s book ‘Krigets dotter’ and a spoken word piece from Sámi poet and performance artist Timimie Gassko Märak. Language: English
The works are about recollection, inquiry of place and intention: expressions of displacement from somewhere known to uncertainty through the endurance of stories, experiences and memories. The artists and performers are activists who engage indigenous, gender and ‘othered’ rights through film, literature and education. By overlaying fragmented and evocative narratives, the audience is invited to engage with their own experiences and feelings of belonging and loss.
After the screenings and performances, a moderated conversation with the artists around the themes and issues raised by the artworks plus a Q&A session with the audience hosted by performance artist Felicia Bichard.
Ala Riani
Kurdish / Swedish Actor and writer Ala Riani is a multi-facetted and award winning actress based in Stockholm who works within the fields of film, theatre, tv, and voice. She has appeared in American, Polish, Belgian and German productions including the Netflix series ‘Kalifat’.
Ala has written an account of her early life eastern Kurdistan (Iran) in her book ‘Krigets Dotter’
https://alariani.com
JP Bichard
Gender Queer Artist and filmmaker – UK / Swedish
Bichard has worked for the past 3 decades as an artist, filmmaker and photographer.
A gender queer, feminist who works at questioning societal and personal constructs, unpicking colonial, patriarchal norms and exploring at the edges of culture: reassessing narrative forms and gender asymmetry in western culture..
Bichard has artworks in numerous public and private art collections internationally including MOMA New York, V&A and Tate in London and CAM in Tampa.
https://johnpaulbichard.com/film
Savaş Boyraz
Kurdish Artist and Academic, Savaş Boyraz (born in 1980, Istanbul) is based in Stockholm. He was part of Mezopotamya Cinema Collective between 1998 and 2006 in Istanbul.
He has been selected by Lausanne Photography Museum for the reGeneration2 exhibitions and book in 2010. With “Invisible Landscapes” he was awarded with Victor Fellowship by Hasselblad Foundation. Since 2021, he is pursuing a PhD in artistic research, at the Department of Film and Media at Stockholm University of Arts.
https://savasboyraz.com
Timimie Gassko Märak
Sámi Performance Artist, Timimie Gassko Märak is also one of the three founding members of Hásstuheaddji collective, a Sámi led think-tank that gather thinkers, performers and artists to dialogue and reflect.
They are the initiater of “Queerness and culture” a project created to combine the connection between generations learning from each other when passing on traditions with creating traditional regalia for queer and gender non conforming Sámis.
https://www.instagram.com/timimiemarak/
https://www.instagram.com/hasstuheaddji/
The War Daughter Event will be running at Stadsmuseet, Stockholm on 29th August 2025 as part of the Stockholm Fringe Festival – for more info and to book tickets, please follow the link below:
War Daughter was inspired by Ala Riani’s book ‘Kriget’s Dotter’ on her upbringing as a child from eastern Kurdistan (Iran).
Produced by Bichard Studios 2025