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Stories from Nowhere

For stories from the in-between, we make a place

War, authoritarianism, displacement, bureaucracy, borders, and fear all work quietly. They erase people not only from places, but from memory. Some lives are never recorded. Some voices are never archived. Some experiences never reach the public record.

When this happens, violence does not need spectacle. Silence does the work.

Across the world, people fall between categories. They are not refugees yet. Not citizens anymore. Not documented. Not legible to funding forms, archives, or headlines. Their stories exist in the interstitial spaces between systems, places, and languages.

When stories disappear, injustice becomes easier.

Without stories, there is no memory.
Without memory, there is no accountability.
Without accountability, violence repeats itself quietly.


The Disappearance


SAMA Film Festival


Simorgh


Fly With Me

Projects

What does cinema look like when it comes from exile?

The SAMA International Film Festival is an established platform for filmmakers working under conditions of conflict, censorship, and displacement.

The Brighton edition brings this work into dialogue with local audiences through screenings, conversations, and public events.

SAMA is not about representation.
It is about survival of expression.

The festival creates space for films that could not safely be made, shown, or discussed elsewhere.

If you lose your place, what do you become instead?

Simorgh is a mythic, autobiographical project that moves between poetry, film, sculpture, and participatory practice.

Drawing from Persian mythology and lived experience, the work explores flight not as escape, but as transformation. The Simorgh is not a destination. It is a mirror.

The project unfolds through:

  • poetic text
  • kite-based sculpture
  • animation and film
  • public participation

Simorgh is concerned with identity after rupture, with what is carried forward when the past cannot return intact.

Why fly a kite with us?

Fly With Me is an international kite flying initiative in solidarity with the people of Afghanistan.

On 15 August 2022, marking one year since the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban, Fly With Me launched as an immersive, international event presented by Afghan artists, actors, and sportspeople, and organised by Good Chance. The event took place across 47 locations in the UK, Europe, and North America, with over 7,500 people taking part.

Kite flying, an ancient Afghan craft, became an aerial act of solidarity. At a time when music, theatre, dance, and visual art were being banned inside Afghanistan, the sky itself became a shared cultural space.

You can still take part.

Learn how to make an authentic Afghan kite with master kite maker Sanjar Qiam, and fly it in a park, on a hill, or in the centre of your town. All you need are a few wooden skewers, tissue paper, string, and a willingness to look up.

You can download instructions and watch the video guide here.

Fly With Me remains a live project – get in touch if you would like to collaborate on an event in your area.