Universities looking for home videos Belgian families with migrant background
The University of Antwerp (UAntwerp) and the Dutch-speaking Brussels university VUB are asking families with a migrant background in Belgium to share their home videos for a new research project. In this way, they aim to “document an underexposed piece of history”.
“Holiday trips, weddings, everyday scenes… Homemade films from the family archive are treasure troves of memories, big and small,” state UAntwerp and the VUB in a press release. For their new research project “HomeFrames”, supported by the Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO), they are looking for forgotten footage from families with a migrant background in Belgium.
“For a long time, migration history was described from an outsider’s perspective,” explained VUB researcher Maryam Kamal Hedayat. “Amateur films tell the story through the lens of the migrants themselves. In this way, they reveal new perspectives and give a voice to those who are otherwise rarely heard.”
The researchers have launched a large-scale appeal for relevant footage via their website. “We are looking for amateur films in private collections,” said Lieve Willekens of the University of Antwerp. “In this way, we hope to find films that we can examine, digitise, potentially screen and preserve. We always work on a case-by-case basis and with the trust of the film owners. Not everyone wants their home movie to be screened, and we will respect that.”
The researchers also wish to conduct interviews with people involved in the films, whether the filmmakers themselves or the second or even third generation who have preserved the films.
More information at homeframes.be.
#FlandersNewsService | Illustration © PHOTO IMAGEBROKER
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