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DESIGN TOGETHERNESS Dublin based photographer and
filmmaker Bobby Zithelo explores the positive impact of immigration in his latest documentary. words Richard Seabrooke – Congratulations on This Land, it’s a beautiful film. What did you discover on the journey creating this documentary? I had the great opportunity of talking with a mixture of different people from Ireland both on and off camera about the themes explored in this film. I’d say throughout the making of this project, one thing that stood out to me the most would be how other people roughly my age self identify. I’ve met a lot of people who are 100% certain they know who they are and how they identify, but I also found great comfort in finding that so many other people featured in this documentary are in the same position as me. They’re still in the process of figuring out who they are and sometimes they struggle to either call themselves fully Irish or half Irish. – What did you want to achieve going into this? Was it what you expected? The whole idea for this project and all my previous projects has always been wanting to start a conversation, get people talking about certain ideas and themes that I feel aren’t showcased enough in the media or maybe not showcased the right way and maybe answer some of the questions I’ve had for a long time growing up in Ireland about self identity. It’s been a couple of months since the premiere of the film. The first initial response was amazing. People really enjoyed the film and it was nice to read the messages and the comments. Fast forward to the protests and what’s happened in the US the film has sort of become something completely different to what we had originally imagined. – There’s a real sense of sadness, but also hope and joy in this film. That’s the thing about this film, I wanted to produce a positive documentary about race and Irish culture, but the more I thought about this, the more I started to realise I couldn’t ignore the difficult subjects. You often see racist attacks on video, social media, but you hardly ever see these victims talk about how these events have made them feel or impacted their lives. Those emotions you described are some that these people go through on a daily basis. They’ve faced racism (some are still facing it to this day), yet they don’t let that stop them from waking up in the morning with great hope. They don’t let race define them. They’ve somehow managed to find the funny side in some of their tragic experiences. They continue to create, fight for human rights, they continue to fight for change. And that I think is something I hope people notice in this film. – The focus of your films is often young musicians, but on This Land there are chefs, journalists, entrepreneurs, activists and others. Did that change your approach to film-making? Did it change the energy? Personally, the attempt for this project was to not be known as the “hip hop camera guy” or the guy who does films about musicians. At first, I did think about focusing on musicians with This Land. The idea was to go for the same themes and ideas but with musicians, but the more I thought about the concept of race or identity, the more I realised it affects all kinds of people. We’re all the same and face the same problems, it just so happens that we share different occupations. Plus, it was an opportunity for me to speak to people outside of my field. For example, I was eager to meet Dean Van Nguyen. I spent a lot of my time reading his work whilst working on Up Next and a huge portion of his writing was a major inspiration for me on that project. Not to mention, he is one of my favorite people to follow on Twitter! Most importantly all these different people featured in the film play a massive role in bringing something to the Irish culture. – Do you make a point to centre your work around creative and passionate people? I suppose it’s because I can relate to these people and creativity is one of the biggest things in Ireland. There’s a striving creative community all around Dublin, and I want to be one of the people that documents it all. Most importantly, I’m very curious – I find creative people to be some of the most fascinating people. I love all the mundane stuff, such as what it takes to put a record together, how and what drives these people, I think there’s a lot to explore. workbyzithelo.com @_zithelo – This Land came out a couple of months before the death of a man in the USA was seen around the globe. Why did the murder of George Floyd resonate with Irish people so much? Well, for many reasons. For one, I think it’s the fact that it was something we kept seeing over and over and over for many decades. Black men and women losing their lives to police brutality and not seeing any form of justice. People seem to assume that racism is just an American problem. “What does that have to do with us?”, I think I’ve come across different variations of those words in the comment sections so many times now... Racism is a global issue! Just because you are not racist, does not mean I or any other black person in this country has never faced racism or discrimination. Just because your local Garda haven’t shot and killed any innocent black people, does not mean racism does not exist! It’s not in the news everyday, your pals don’t discuss it, your schools don’t teach you about racism, but it exists and people have been vocal and some are starting to see and hear us, or at least make the effort to understand where we are coming from. It did not resonate with many people until black people said “Enough is enough”, otherwise people would’ve just gone about their normal day as they have with the deaths before George Floyd. – Do you feel there needs to be more work like This Land made to show Irish people who deny the existence of racism in this country that it’s just as much of an issue here? Yes, but I also think moving forward we should start by educating the younger generation and people around us about racism and the history of black people. We shouldn’t wait for films or viral videos to educate us on what’s really happening! Let’s educate ourselves before it is too late! Let’s educate ourselves so we don’t allow the same tragedies to keep happening over and over. What’s been happening in Ireland at the moment has given a lot of people a better perspective of what racism is really like in this country and it’s been somewhat acknowledged, but I personally think that’s not enough. There’s still a change needed in this country, not just for us right now, but for our younger siblings, our parents and for those who hope to immigrate to Ireland. It’s important that we keep this conversation and momentum going, but it’s just as important to bring change. But definitely, I hope to see more projects like This Land in the near future. It does help bring new perspectives and gives the voiceless a platform to share their experiences. 15