The MEG's Sunday film screenings continue for another season, focusing on essential and topical issues that echo the permanent exhibition.

Documentaries, fiction films and animated films addressing these themes are screened free of charge in the Museum Auditorium one or two Sundays per month.
The MEG is once again partnering with the FIFDH for a screening followed by a roundtable discussion. This screening echoes the “Encounters” exhibition featuring Deneth Piumakshi Veda Arachchige, the protagonist of the film. You can find her portrait in the exhibition.

Elephants & Squirrels, by Gregor Brändli

In Swiss museums, Sri Lankan artist Deneth Piumakshi Veda Arachchige discovers human remains and artifacts from the indigenous Wanniyala-Aetto community. In a context of colonial violence, these objects were stolen in the early 20th century by Swiss naturalists. The film questions the origin of museum collections, the legitimacy of their preservation, the transmission of cultural heritage, and the possibilities for reparation.

In English, Sinhala, German, Vedda, with French and English subtitles.
Duration: 114 min.

The film will be followed by a round table discussion: Restitution: Museums and Colonial Legacies

Following the screening of Elephants & Squirrels, this round table discussion will continue the reflection initiated by the film on the presence of Sri Lankan artifacts and human remains in Swiss museums. Based on the investigation conducted by artist Deneth Piumakshi Veda Arachchige and his fight for restitution, the discussion will broaden to address the history of these collections, the conditions under which they were acquired, and the political, ethical, and institutional issues surrounding their return. In the presence of the artist who conducted the survey, the film's director, and the curator of the Asian department at the Geneva Museum of Ethnography, the meeting will offer a cross-disciplinary perspective on filmmaking and contemporary museum practices, putting into context the current debates on restitution in Asia and Europe.
The discussion will be held in French and English, with French-English interpretation.

Speakers:

• Gregor Brändli__: Born in 1986, Gregor is a filmmaker and photographer based in Basel, Switzerland. Since 2011, he has been working as an independent director and cinematographer on various documentary and narrative films, as well as interdisciplinary theatre projects. He is co-founder, author and performer of Theater Kollektiv Glück and co-founder of the design studio Tristesse. His work focuses on cross-media film and theatre projects that explore the fluid space between fiction and documentary. He is the winner of the 2013 Basel Kulturförderpreis.
• Deneth Piumakshi Veda Arachchige__: Deneth Piumakshi Veda Arachchige was born in 1980 and grew up in Kurunegala, Sri Lanka. Her multidisciplinary practice combines photography, sound, video, painting, textile printing, embroidery and performance. Her work explores forgotten colonial histories, migration, the Sri Lankan diaspora, the experiences of migrant workers and childhood in conflict zones, positioning itself at the intersection of art and activism. Since 2000, she has been working extensively with Cheetha, a traditional Sri Lankan printed textile that is now in decline, which she uses as a material for memory, resistance and cultural criticism. She lives and works between France, Sri Lanka and Europe.
• Damien Kunik__: Historian and anthropologist Damien Kunik is curator of the Asian department at the MEG. Initially trained in Japanese studies, he has a broader interest in the history of applied arts, crafts and popular heritage in Asia. He is fascinated by the material culture of human societies and, after years as a university researcher in Switzerland, France and Japan, he turned to museums to think with objects.
• Moderator: Rachel M'Bon__, director

In collaboration with the FIFDH.