Dir bio: Aqsa Arif is a Scottish/Pakistani interdisciplinary artist and emerging filmmaker based in Glasgow. She experimented with artistic moving image and installations at Glasgow School of Art, graduating in 2019. Her work explores the narrative of her psychological experience of re-settlement in the western culture, identity disruption and the process of healing through archetypal self-individuation. This polarity of two cultural identities underpins her work, manifesting through surreal fantasy and fictional worldbuilding. She has since gone on to show work at the Royal Scottish Academy, Jupiter Artland and Gallery of Modern Art. Upcoming projects include a film commission in collaboration with Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, looking to unveil stories and decolonise their collections.
Films shown in Divvy Film Festival 2024
Spicy Pink Tea
dir: Aqsa Arif
run time: 12:25 mins
production year: 2023
fiction short
synopsis: Almas, aspires for perfection as she embroiders her sari, emulating the white women in the paintings around her. The grandfather clock grows louder and louder and Almas is transported to a dining room where a cup of tea awaits her. Desperate to impress the British ancestors in the paintings, she sips the tea delicately but fails to hide her disgust at the flavour. The owners are severely displeased with this and assertively command her to DRINK. Back in the drawing room, she admires her embroidery work. Out of the corner of her eye, she notices a morphed reflection in the mirror staring back at her brazenly and momentarily loses her composure. A classical piece of music grows louder and louder, and eventually places her in the ballroom. The ancestors are chattering around her as she begins her first dance, a waltz. She performs beautifully but a small misstep shakes her confidence and she tragically falls to the ground. The sounds of disapproval, laughter and disgust are overwhelming. Almas seeks refuge under her sari, closing her eyes and ears in disbelief.A loud bang brings the commotion to an abrupt stop. Almas throws her sari off her head, only to find herself back in the dining room - now enveloped in darkness. The morphed reflection from earlier sits at the head of the table, ethereally. She urges Almas to drink a new concoction of tea. This tea is transformative and breaks her out of her pursuit to fit into her environment. Coming back into the ballroom with a renewed sense of self, she dances to her own rhythm - flowing free and without pretence. The white ancestors can no longer be heard.
