Films and Conversation with Basma al-Sharif (Millercomm Lecture Series)

• Event Date: Tuesday, April 7, 2026
• Time: 7:00 pm (CDT)
• Location: Knight Auditorium, Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL

• Film

Award-winning Palestinian artist and filmmaker Basma al-Sharif will present early and recent film works, Morgenkreis/Morning Circle (2025, 20:31 minutes), which follows a father and son in their intimate rituals as they prepare to start the day and head to kindergarten; Capital (2023, 19 minutes), which centers on the rise of fascism in Egypt by focusing on architecture to highlight the shift from a colonial past to neocolonial infrastructure; and Home Movies Gaza (2013, 24:10 minutes), which presents the Gaza Strip as a microcosm for the failure of civilization. The screenings will be followed by a conversation with Maryam Kashani (Gender & Women's Studies).

Hosted by: Department of Asian American Studies, Mellon Minor Aesthetics Lab, and Department of Gender & Women's Studies

In conjunction with: Center for South Asian & Middle Eastern Studies, Department of Comparative & World Literature, Department of Dance, Department of French & Italian, Department of History, Humanities Research Institute, Illinois Global Institute, Krannert Art Museum, Media & Cinema Studies Program, Office for Arts Integration, Roger Ebert Center for Film Studies, School of Art + Design, Spurlock Museum