OTHER-GROUNDS FILM FESTIVAL: Day 2 – Knowledge-Gathering
Other-Grounds Film Festival is a multicultural, collaborative initiative exploring what it means to be human on Earth—and how we can build responsible, connected relationships with nature and each other. In the face of today’s overlapping crises—environmental, social, and ideological—we seek new ways to perceive, imagine, and relate to the world.
Bringing together films, conversations, and diverse perspectives, the festival highlights knowledge systems that have often been silenced. It amplifies voices fighting for sustainability, the rights of nature, and a more-than-human future.
Welcome to day 2 program: Knowledge-Gathering
On the second day of Other-Grounds Film Festival, we invite you into a space of Knowledge-Gathering—a day devoted to storytelling, memory, music, and ancestral wisdom. Join us for two evocative events that explore identity, belonging, and the more-than-human world through film and live performance.
12:30: Doors Open
13:00:
FILMS: The Church Forest of Ethiopia
Director: Jeremy Seifert
Country: Ethiopia, United States | Year: 2020 | Runtime: 9 minutes
FILM: Honouring Darkness
Director: Juan Camilo
Country: Iceland, Colombia | Year: 2018 | Runtime: 18 minutes
13:30 Break
14:00:
FILM: Mamu
Director: Aephie Chen
Country: Taiwan, United Kingdom | Year: 2024 | Runtime: 15 minutes
+ Interview with the MAMU director Aephie
15:00: Break
15:15:
FILM: ICE
Director: Christoph Matt, Bernhard Poscher, Sympoietic Society art collective
Country: Austria | Year: 2023 | Runtime: 6 minutes
FILM: Qulleq
Director: Aka Hansen
Country: Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland) | Year: 2023 | Runtime: 3 minutes
FILM: Shangri-La
Directors: Seoyeon Ha and Leon Meschede
Country: Mongolia, South Korea, Germany | Year: 2023 | Runtime: 23 minutes
16:00: Break
16:30: The Sounds of Mongol Nutag with KHAIRKHAN
17:30: Short Closing word
MAMU – Screening & Conversation with Director Aephie
14:00-15:00
We begin the day with the screening of MAMU (2024), a poetic short film exploring Indigenous Taiwanese identity through intergenerational dreams and the healing call of homeland. As Mayaw’s memory fades, lullabies and mystical guardians guide him and his daughter toward reconnection and ancestral belonging.
Following the film, director Aephie will join us for an intimate conversation and storytelling session. A Taiwanese-born British filmmaker and interdisciplinary artist based in Reykjavík and London, Aephie draws from a rich background shaped by global migration, homeschooling, and hybrid cultures. MAMU premiered at Sundance Film Festival London and is nominated for Best Short at the Hawai’i International Film Festival 2024.
The Sounds of Mongol Nutag – Storytelling Performance by KHAIRKHAN
16:30–17:30
We close the day with an immersive performance by KHAIRKHAN, an Inner Mongolian musician from the Khorqin Tribe, now based in Reykjavík. Rooted in the expansive grasslands of eastern Inner Mongolia, his music weaves together traditional instruments such as the morin khuur, tsuur, and tovshuur, alongside mesmerizing Mongolian throat singing.
In this unique performance, KHAIRKHAN shares stories through sound, tracing the journey of a modern nomad reconnecting with heritage while living in the city. His music is both ancient and experimental—honoring centuries-old traditions while shaping new forms for the present day.
Accessibility:
Elissa Auditorium is wheelchair accessible, with a low-threshold entrance, an accessible toilet with changing facilities on the same floor, and a ramp from the parking lot. An automatic button is installed at the main entrance. For further accessibility inquiries, please contact: kolbrun@nordichouse.is
