{"id":6879,"date":"2022-06-07T12:12:04","date_gmt":"2022-06-07T11:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordpress.satellite.mmu.ac.uk\/northernquota-old\/2022\/06\/07\/beyond-babel-returns-manchester-first-time-pandemic\/"},"modified":"2022-06-07T12:12:04","modified_gmt":"2022-06-07T11:12:04","slug":"beyond-babel-returns-manchester-first-time-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/satellite.mmu.ac.uk\/northernquota-old\/beyond-babel-returns-manchester-first-time-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Babel returns to Manchester for the first time since the pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Beyond Babel film festival makes its return for the first time since the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

The multilingual festival shows various films from across the globe, focussing on two themes each year.<\/span><\/p>\n

As well as the constant theme of language learning, a theme unique to this year is the experience of refugees.<\/span><\/p>\n

The festival takes place in various locations across Manchester showing four films over a span of four days, with separate viewings, a matinee for students and the general audience in the afternoon.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The itinerary of the festival<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Carmen Herrero, co-founder of Beyond Babel and section leader of languages at Man Met, said: \u201cLife is not monolingual and no matter how much we pretend that English is enough, it’s not.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe realised even if you communicate in a language that there are so many cultural aspects that are embedded into the language that you really need to learn.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody learns languages at different levels, even if you are watching a film and not studying French or Spanish or Italian, you always ask why are they doing that, either about their food, body language or gestures.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Life is not monolingual and no matter how much we pretend that English is enough, it’s not<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWhen you meet the people you understand why they are doing that or why they seem to be so aggressive when they talk, even though they aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Films included this year’s festival are Dreaming of Words, a documentary about an Indian man who did not finish his education but created a comparative dictionary of four different languages; Josep, an animated movie based on the real life experience of a cartoonist who left Spain under the Franco regime and left for Mexico where he met Frida Kahlo; and Me Duele la Memoria, a documentary that tells the stories of various women who fled from Chile to Switzerland during the dictatorship.<\/span><\/p>\n

When asked which film is her favourite, Carmen says: \u201cI think it’s Me Duele la Memoria, the Swiss film, because the way that the stories are written are really beautiful.<\/span><\/p>\n