An intimate look at the life and work of a Roma refugee from Kosovo collecting trash on the streets of Novi Sad, Serbia, Active (citizen) is a visual ethnography focused on the material, sensorial and kinaesthetic realities of the protagonist’s work and its political and social significance – the daily activism beyond the scope of public recognition.
This 30-minute film is part of a larger research project on the ‘invisible activism’ of ethnic minorities and migrants who engage for causes beyond those important for their own community. Such activism is invisible because it happens outside any minority or migrant community structures (typical point of access for researchers and media) and because at times it takes forms which comparing to the activism of those who can afford more grand forms of engagement it seems insignificant. The film approaches the question of affordability of activism as it is conceptualised by middle-class academics and activists.
The film is available for free for teaching, community screenings, personal watching and other non-commercial purposes. To get the link please contact one of the authors: Piotr Goldstein or Jan Lorenz
If you are watching / showing ‘Active (citizen)’ in a class, you may be interested in reading / recommending this short multimodal article: Visualising Invisible (Migrant) Activism