SIMINA NEAGU 23 AUGUST: AN ARCHIVAL DIVE INTO COMRADESHIP AND POLITICS OF FRIENDSHIP
London-based artist, curator, and writer Simina Neagu explores the long-lasting politics of transnational friendship and solidarity that surfaced during the 4th World Festival of Youth and Students in Bucharest, Romania, in 1953.
23 August focuses on the 4th World Festival of Youth and Students that took place in Bucharest, Romania in 1953. In the spirit of recuperating a hopeful, partly utopian story of transnational solidarity for future generations, the story is told through the perspective of two activists – John La Rose, from Trinidad, and Paul Joseph, from South Africa, who forged a life-long friendship after meeting at this anti-colonial and anti-imperialist festival. The film includes archival materials from the John La Rose Estate and George Padmore Institute, fiction and a new interview with Paul Joseph and his daughter Nadia Joseph, as well as archival images from the Senate House Library.
Simina Neagu (b. Romania) is an artist, curator and writer based in London. She works primarily with text that takes the shape of digital works, publications, events, exhibitions, installations and more recently, moving image work. Often informed by her own experience of migration, her projects have explored structures, collectivity and multiple, overlooked histories.23 August (2023)
Simina Neagu
Film, 25 minutes 24 seconds.
Film editing by Noah Angell.
Thanks to Akademie Schloss Solitude, George Padmore Institute, John La Rose Estate, Senate House Library, Paul and Nadia Joseph.
