Burkas2Bullets Reflections

Dear all,

Following an extensive debrief and discussion period, the International Studies Student Association (the ISSA) has come to the conclusion that our decision to co-host the premiere screening of “Burkas2Bullets” (B2B) with documentarian Alison MacLean was not one made with proper foresight or with the will and ideals of our constituents in mind.

This issue, brought to our attention during the week leading up to the premiere, was discussed at length at our fifth Spring semester meeting on Thursday, March 9, 2017. At this meeting we reflected on our decision to participate in the event, the way in which the event was carried out, and the outcomes of the event that were realized following its end.

We have learned many things from the experience of participating in the B2B event, the first being that we should always be critical of the material that we involve ourselves with. During the initial planning stages of the event, we were eager to aid in provoking dialogue and conversation regarding the material; however, this was lost along the way as our timeline moved quickly and we became caught up in the details. As you are likely aware, a Q&A session was planned for after the screening of the film. However, at the last minute this was cut out of the agenda by the filmmaker, a decision we were not consulted on. We would like to clarify that this was not something we were aware was going to happen, and have learned that we should endeavour to keep events such as this more firmly within our own control in order to deliver the promised product (in this case, a dialogue and chance to critique the film). A point raised by a concerned at-large member was that premiere screenings with the filmmaker present do not necessarily invite the type of dialogue that we were hoping to facilitate, and this is another thought we will certainly take into account should we choose to host a similar event in the future.

Our history with Alison MacLean was also brought to our attention, and from this we have realized that despite having a friendly relationship with an individual who approaches us with event opportunities, we must be critical, and - especially in cases of premiering films - not allow ourselves to become reassured by the filmmaker without having seen the material and fully examined and discussed what we would be promoting. At the time it was pitched to us, the film had not yet been completed, and thus we were unable to preview it. Moving forward we will be making it a priority to fully examine anything we endorse.

We very much relinquished our agency during the planning and marketing of the B2B event, and have been advised to in the future take more charge and be more assertive in our neutral position and set firm terms.

In addition, following the premiere of the film, we were immediately aware of the problematic nature of the material being shown, particularly with regards to the pro-war sentiments expressed, the lack of coherence between the title, premise of the film and the actual content, and the use of problematic tropes surrounding the empowerment of women through militarization and Western intervention. As we had not previously viewed the material and relied on information given to us by the filmmaker, this surprised us, given that the film was pitched to us as something very different. This has given us an opportunity to realize that we must view the material we will be associating ourselves with in the future, and we absolutely must push for dialogue and conversation surrounding any media that we show.

Our meeting also involved a conversation regarding accountability. We discussed the accessibility of our website, and came to the conclusion that we can do more to promote our meetings and better organize the sharing of our minutes in order to be transparent and accountable to our members. From this point on, we will be posting our meeting events on our website (www.issasfu.com/meeting-minutes) and within our Facebook group under Files (https://www.facebook.com/groups/ISSA.SFU/files/). We hope this will make it easier for members to access past meeting minutes, which will be uploaded post-meeting on a biweekly basis (or as frequently as meetings occur). As always, we encourage all of you to attend our meetings, or - should you be unable to - to read the minutes and reach out to us if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.

Overall, this has been a reminder of our values as a student association, and the importance of being accountable to our members. The ISSA will be using the events of the past two weeks to learn and improve. We thank everyone for their support and help in realizing and addressing these issues, and we look forward to working with you all moving forward.

Sincerely,

The International Studies Student Association