Seeing Sociology presents: No.910, in conversation with Erkan Gürsel and Dr. Zeina al-Azmeh (University of Cambridge), and Sheida Kiran
The Sociology, Film & Visual Art Research Cluster at the University of Cambridge’s Department of Sociology presents: a special screening of No.910 (2024, 48’, Turkey).
No.910 explores the afterlives of the 2023 earthquakes in Antakya, tracing how those relegated to the periphery - both geographically and politically - navigate spatial and temporal limbo whilst asserting their claims to recognition and justice. Against the backdrop of contemporary Turkey’s political and economic crises, the film examines the erasure of marginalised communities and the contestations that emerge in response.
No.910 was part of the European Union Delegation to Türkiye’s Human Rights Film Programme and has been screened at the ICA, the British Institute at Ankara, and the UK House of Commons. The film was created by Erkan Gürsel, a researcher and filmmaker who is currently pursuing an MPhil in the Sociology of Marginality and Exclusion at the University of Cambridge.
The screening (48-minutes) will be followed by a discussion with the filmmaker Erkan Gürsel (University of Cambridge), Dr. Zeina al-Azmeh (University of Cambridge), and Sheida Kiran (BBC Eye Investigations), examining the role of film as a sociological method with which to amplify voices enduring dispossession and displacement in the region.
📅 Date: May 1st 2025
📍 Location: Sociology Seminar Room,
Old Cavendish Laboratory, Free School Ln.
🕒 Time: 5pm – 7pm
🎟️ Free and open to all, registration encouraged.
We look forward to seeing you there.
Contributors’ Biographies:
Erkan Gürsel is a researcher and filmmaker based in the UK, focusing on state violence in post-disaster Turkey, particularly in Antakya. He is currently pursuing an MPhil in Sociology at the University of Cambridge and holds an MSc in Global Migration from UCL and a BA (Hons) in Middle Eastern Studies from SOAS. He also teaches in UCL’s Geography Department, leading seminars on migration, displacement, and carceral violence.
Gürsel integrates creative practice into his research, particularly through opinion pieces and filmmaking. His documentary No.910 (2024) explores the impact of the February 2023 earthquakes on his family in Antioch, examining state violence and the politics of nostalgia.. He continues to work with visual and sonic methodologies.
Sheida Kiran is a British-Turkish-Iranian documentary filmmaker and composer based in London. Driven by her passion for ethnographic storytelling, she focuses on documenting women’s issues in the Middle East. Her award-winning student film ‘Harvesting Our Tea’ (2021) was commissioned by BBC Our World in 2022, shortlisted for a student BAFTA and Grierson award, and won the LA Women’s Voices Now and Porto Femme Film Festival best documentary categories. She has since been reporting on the earthquakes that happened in Turkey and released her current affairs film ‘Turkey's Earthquake: Those Who Stayed’ on BBC iPlayer. She is currently producing documentaries for BBC Eye Investigations and directing a film funded by the BFI Made of Truth Fund.
Through her experience of scoring for film, she often uses music as a tool to build narratives, and composes the music to her films with musical project ‘Entropies’. Their work has been supported by Help Musicians, Bert Jansch Foundation and FUJIFILM UK - and they have performed Sheida’s film scores in over 100 performances across the UK.
Zeina Al Azmeh is a Research and Teaching Associate in Political Sociology at the Department of Sociology and a Fellow of Selwyn College, Cambridge. She is also a research associate at the Centre for Governance and Human Rights, University of Cambridge. With a multidisciplinary approach that bridges cultural and political sociology, Zeina's research centres on the experiences of academics and intellectuals in exile. Her expertise lies in the political sociology of knowledge production, memorialisation, and migration, particularly focusing on migrations resulting from revolutions and counterrevolutions.
In addition to her academic pursuits, Zeina is also a trained musician, holding a bachelor's degree in piano performance and a master's degree in composition. She completed her PhD in Sociology from the University of Cambridge in 2021, where she conducted an in-depth investigation into the role of exiled Syrian intellectuals in civil resistance since 2011.
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About the Sociology, Film & Visual Art Research Cluster:
This research cluster brings together all those who are interested in exploring the connections between disciplinary sociology and the medium of film. There are a number of members of the department who are exploring these intersections - either through making films, working collaboratively with filmmakers and visual artists, or studying the digital visual artifacts in their research. We aim to create a research community to explore the theoretical and methodological questions that emerge from such practices. These questions include:
How might insights from visual art and film affect sociological thinking?
How might sociological thinking affect visual art and filmmaking?
What are the tensions - in methods, ethics, orientation and practice - when these modes of thinking and producing combine?
Is there specific productive potential in combining these approaches when the focus of such projects relates to the capacities of digital technologies?
As the questions are theoretical and methodological, they allow connections to be drawn between members of the department working in different empirical locations. Our area of focus encourages us to consider collectively how we might use digital methodologies for engagement, and we plan to encourage participation in our public facing events from visual artists, filmmakers and researchers working outside of the academy and/or outside the UK through hybrid sessions and inviting speakers to participate online.
Format:
We plan to host multiple public events per term. For Easter term 2025, we are planning two events in which films made by, or in collaboration with members of the department are screened and are followed by ‘in conversation’ panels that include both the filmmakers and specialists in the empirical contexts in which the film is based.
Convenors and contact:
The cluster is convened by members including Erkan Gürsel, Isabelle Higgins, Tom Kissock-Mamede and Seetha Tan. Please contact Erkan (eg710@cam.ac.uk) and Isabelle (irth2@cam.ac.uk) with any questions.
If you are interested, you can sign up to our mailing list here.