A PHD STUDENT from the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) has been nominated for a Bafta.
Theo Panagopoulos’s documentary, "The Flowers Stand Silently, Witnessing", has been nominated in the Best Short Film category.
The movie is a restoration of two silent 16mm colour films which document 1930s and 40s Palestinian plant life, which was originally captured by an unnamed Scottish missionary.
Work on the short film began when Panagopoulos found a collection of undigitised film reels at the National Library of Scotland which had remained unseen for decades.
Discussing the nomination, Panagopoulos said: “I’m very grateful and humbled to have this film nominated for a Bafta especially as it recognises not only the massive effort that the whole team put into this intimate and challenging film but offers an important platform for Palestinian narratives to be heard widely.
“I hope this recognition opens the doors for other films to be recognised that directly confront injustices in today’s world - that take creative risks and that embrace a type of filmmaking that is not just political but is also made politically.”
Describing his short film, the PhD student reflected: “Working closely with curators, I realised that these films couldn’t be shown without carefully framing the deeply complex and problematic colonial context they represented.
"That’s why I embarked on alternative works that collectively reclaimed the footage and presented it through a new narrative, one that centred on Palestinian experiences.”
The movie’s theme builds on Panagopoulos's doctoral research into performance and counternarrative storytelling. It explores how images can serve as a tool of both testimony and violence, highlighting the complex ties between people and land.
Theo’s research in Performance at UWS focuses on cultural objects and archival material taken from colonised nations. Panagopoulos then evolved his work to explore the Scottish film archives of Palestine.
The documentary has been produced by the Scottish Documentary Institute (SDI) and funded by Screen Scotland.
The film has already won the Best Short Documentary Award at the International Documentary Festival (IDFA) in Amsterdam and the Grand Jury Prize in the Sundance Film Festival Short Film Programme.
