Grandmother University
Spore hosts
Save the Date
Occupied Stage: Embodied Voices
Workshop, Film Screenings, Live Music Performance & Community Iftar
14. March 2026
12.00-20.00
12.00-20.00
Save the Date
For free
all ages welcome
Arabic/in English
This pre-festival gathering opens Occupied Stage with a full-day program connecting embodied practice, cinema, music, and collective ritual.
The day begins with Where the Body Speaks, a workshop led by Dr. Maiada Aboud that explores body-oriented methods drawn from performance, somatic practice, and trauma-informed approaches. Through movement, breathing, writing, and guided exercises, participants are invited to reflect on memory, pain, and collective experience as lived and embodied realities.
In the afternoon, the documentary The Devil’s Driver will be screened, followed by the short film Ghafweh by Abdullah Milhem, after which there will be a conversation with the filmmaker. Together, these works examine personal and political narratives through intimate storytelling.
The evening will transition into a live performance by Takhmeera, a musical collective rooted in West and North African traditions that blends ancestral rhythms with contemporary influences. The program concludes with a community Iftar, conceived by Boui-Boui as an interactive food experience and accompanied by a curated listening session by Aalia Iraki.
By bringing together embodied knowledge, artistic testimony, and communal gathering during Ramadan, this event wants to serve as a reflection on presence, voice, and shared responsibility within contemporary cultural and social contexts.
Curated by Khawla Belhadj
The Devil’s Driver, 2021
Daniel Carsenty
90 min, Documentary
Arabic with English subtitles
The Devil’s Driver follows an underground Palestinian taxi driver navigating the tensions and constraints of everyday life in the West Bank. The documentary offers an intimate portrait of mobility, restriction, and survival under occupation.
Ghafweh, 2024
Emad Metwally & Abdullah Melhem
Short film
English
Karim, an Arab artist residing in exile, grapples with the haunting specters of his tumultuous past. Within the intricate tapestry of his memories, these ghosts manifest as characters, each embodying a distinct facet of the traumas that continue to shadow him. In his artistic pursuits, Karim seeks solace and redemption, using his creativity as a medium to confront and process the complexities of his personal history. The ghosts serve as poignant reminders of the challenges he has faced, compelling him to navigate the delicate balance between confronting his demons and forging a path toward healing and self-discovery in the midst of exile.
English (primary language), with parts in Arabic. Q&A in English
No prior experience required. Workshop participants should be comfortable engaging in light movement and reflective exercises.
About Occupied Stage
Occupied Stage is a performance art festival that reclaims the stage as a site of evidence, critical inquiry, and public witnessing. Taking place in Berlin, a city shaped by division, surveillance, and unresolved histories, the festival frames performance as both commemoration and confrontation. It foregrounds counter-performance as a practice that resists silencing, propaganda, and the weaponization of memory, creating space for live expression and difficult speech without enforced neutrality.
The program brings together artists working across performance, music, dance, theatre, sound, and interdisciplinary practices, engaging questions of power, displacement, censorship, and social responsibility.
The festival will take place from March 14 at Spore Haus, March 20–22 at Flutgraben, and March 28 (venue TBA).
Organized by coculture e.V.
