Essential Information
| Type | Events and festivals |
|---|---|
| Location | |
| Date and Times | Friday 13 June 2025 | 6.30pm-8.30pm |
| Prices | Free |
This event highlights the perils of maritime migration, through short films and panel discussions.
The central Mediterranean Sea between North Africa and Europe is the deadliest migration route in the world, with thousands of migrants losing their lives each year in precarious boats.
Maritime migration to the UK has also seen a significant increase, with over 150,000 people arriving across the English Channel since 2018.
This event will feature insights from filmmakers, academics and creatives, discussing issues from cultural displacement to identity.
It will take place in the Lecture Theatre at the National Maritime Museum, and is part of a series of events at Royal Museums Greenwich marking Refugee Week.
Event timings
Doors and bar open: 5.45pm
Film screenings: 6.30pm
Panel discussion: 7.30pm
Event finishes: 8.30pm
Film screenings
Liquid Traces: The Left-to-Die Boat Case
Length: 17:00
Liquid Traces reconstructs the events of the "left-to-die" boat case. In March 2011, a small rubber boat carrying 72 passengers left the Libyan coast, heading towards the island of Lampedusa in Italy.
Following an engine failure, the boat ran into difficulties. Despite several distress signals relaying the location, and encounters with military helicopters and ships, the passengers were left adrift for 14 days in NATO's maritime surveillance area. 63 people died.
Credits: Charles Heller and Lorenzo Pezzani (Directors). This film was produced by Forensic Oceanography.
The Story of Migration
Length: 07:19
This short, animated film aims to tell the complex historical and contemporary story of the relationship between migration and global inequalities.
Credits: Karrie Fransman (Creator), Gameli Tordzro (Voice Over), Richard Hughes (Sound) Dr Benjamin Worku-Dix (Director). This film was produced by PositiveNegatives.
Life on the Move
Length: 03:31
Life on the Move is a stop-motion animation exploring the complex reasons behind migration, showcasing research from the Horn of Africa as a case study.
The film brings to life a multitude of migrant experiences, exploring the personal, social and economic reasons why people move across borders.
Please be aware that it contains depictions of violence.
Credits: Karrie Fransman (Producer), Osbert Parker (Stop Motion Director), Dr Benjamin Worku-Dix (Director). This film was produced by PositiveNegatives.
Dear Habib
Length: 03:40
Dear Habib brings to life the challenges and opportunities that young unaccompanied migrants face. The film follows Habib, who journeyed to the UK from Afghanistan at just 14, and his experience of transitioning to adulthood.
Please be aware that it contains depictions of violence.
Credits: Beni Morard (Art and Animation), Ryan Goodwin-Smith (Scriptwriter), Majid Anin (Director). This film was produced by PositiveNegatives.
Unstoppable Beat
Length: 05:47
The film tells the story of a Haitian migrant in Brazil fighting for his rights to work, buy a house and most importantly, reunite with his family from Haiti.
Credits: Studio Gruff (animation), Richard Hughes (sound and music), Oliver Meech (Scriptwriter), Dr Benjamin Worku-Dix (Producer), Luke & Rufus Dye-Montefiore (Directors). This film was produced by PositiveNegatives.
About Forensic Oceanography
Forensic Oceanography is a project that emerged out of Forensic Architecture based at Goldsmiths, University of London. It has sought to critically investigate the militarised border regime imposed by European states across the EU’s maritime frontier, analysing the political, spatial, and aesthetic conditions that have transformed the waters of the Mediterranean into a deadly space for the illegalised migrants who attempt to cross it.
The project has recently been renamed Border Forensics, to signal the commitment to investigate border violence across a wider geographical scope.
About PositiveNegatives
PositiveNegatives is a non-profit creative research organisation based at SOAS University of London.
It works collaboratively with research teams to develop engaging and impactful comics, animations and educational resources to reach new audiences and help build a creative legacy from the research findings.
Panel discussion
Meet the panellists
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Dr Benjamin Worku-Dix
Dr Benjamin Worku-Dix is the Founding Director of PositiveNegatives and a Senior Fellow at SOAS, University of London.
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Shorsh Saleh
Shorsh Saleh is an artist. His works focus on the subjects of migration and identity, employing the traditional techniques of miniature painting in a contemporary context.
His work Crossing Border (pictured), has recently been acquired by Royal Museums Greenwich.
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Güler Ateş
Güler Ateş was born in Eastern Turkey and lives and works in the UK. Her multidisciplinary work encompasses video, photography, printmaking and performance through which she explores the experience of identity, diaspora and cultural displacement.
Güler graduated in 2008 from the Royal College of Art with an MA in Fine Art. Currently, she is Digital Print Tutor at the Royal Academy Schools. Her work can be found in the print collections of the Victoria & Albert Museum, Government Art Collection (UK), Oude Kerk Amsterdam, Huis Marseille, Museum Van Loon in Amsterdam, the Royal Academy of Arts, the Museu de Arte do Rio (MAR) in Rio de Janeiro and the Museum of Oriental Art in Turin.
