Is a rainbow nation possible in Bristol?
Saint Stephen’s Reconciliation Laboratory presents the award-winning film, Rewind, followed by a talk and workshop on Sunday 7 November at 7.30pm.

“I wish this news could just rewind,” says one woman giving testimony to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Directed by Liza Key, Rewind documents the making of the cantata created for the 10th anniversary of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
REwind: Cantata for Voice, Tape and Testimony was composed by Philip Miller, who used sound fragments from the Commission’s recorded testimonies – including gasps, moans and sighs.

The film Rewind uses interviews of the victims’ families and survivors who featured in the cantata.

Harrowing yet beautiful, the film also includes landscape, public broadcasts, news and secret service archive as well as the Market Theatre performance of REwind, and world-renowned mezzo soprano, Sibongile Khumalo.

The film is followed by a talk by Admore Tshuma, the political journalist from southern Africa. A Wingate scholar at the University of Bristol, a lecturer and reconciliation researcher, he has met Nelson Mandela and other African leaders. He has just returned from interviewing victims of the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Admore Tshuma says: “The killing in April of white supremacist Eugene Terre’Blanche by his black labourers was widely reported. But black farm workers are also being killed by white farmers with an Afrikaans section calling for a breakaway state. Is the rainbow nation disappearing? Is the Mandela magic doomed?”

Chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, The Truth and Reconciliation Commission listened to 21,000 victims and 7,000 perpetrators. Its proceedings were televised to the nation, conceived as a way to end apartheid in South Africa.

Likewise, the Reconciliation Reredos - a major new art work at the east end of Saint Stephen’s to be unveiled in January 2011 – is intended to help start the healing process through establishing Saint Stephen’s as the place of the city’s reconciliation.

Reconciliation Laboratory organiser, David Mowat, says: “It is part of Saint Stephen’s work to bring reconciliation through the arts and music. After screening the film in the church, we will hear Admore Tshuma’s stimulating talk. As Bristol’s late-medieval quayside parish church, Saint Stephen’s witnessed the launch of slaving vessels and grew wealthy through merchants’ donations. Through its current arts programme, Saint Stephen’s is making an artistic response to this legacy.”

Shown at Saint Stephen’s courtesy of the Afrika Eye festival, the film was shown at the Watershed on 30 October followed by a panel discussion. Saint Stephen’s continues the discussion.

David Mowat explains: “We will follow on from the Watershed discussion, deepening insights into the nature of reconciliation in a world ever reluctant to pay real reparations to the victims of oppression. Bristol, trying to heal after its long legacy of slavery, is a privileged city in a globalised world that is still bringing home the benefits of the exploitation of others. So, we ask: can we build a ‘rainbow nation’ in Bristol?”

The event is second of the Reconciliation Laboratories held at Saint Stephen’s this autumn. The first brought together supporters of Israel and Palestine around the recently published book, Crossing Qalandiya.

The third event on 17 November 7.30pm brings together Jews, Christians and Muslims enquiring into what reconciliation means in their respective faiths.

An exhibition of Saint Stephen’s history currently at Bristol Central Library in October will be displayed in the church in November.

Contact: David Mowat, Reconciliation Laboratory organiser

M: 0780 436 3170
E: bigbromoATyahoo.co.uk

Sunday 7 November 2010 7.30pm

Tickets £5 on the door – light refreshments available