Date: Monday April 7, 2025
Time: 7:00 -8:30 PM
Venue: CCT Performance Cafe
Join us on April 7th at 7pm in the CCT Performance Café for “He Knows This Place” film screening and talk, moderated by Prof. Flair Donglai Shi, featuring the director via Zoom and the protagonist in-person.
Refreshments will be provided!
Short Synopsis
Fluent in Kiswahili and the founder of a non-profit organization in Mathare informal settlement, 23-year-old Liu Yi Meng Han reflects on his unique attachment to Nairobi, the city he has called home for 11 years, as his mother encourages him to attend graduate school abroad and suspicions against Chinese nationals rise in Kenya.
About the Director
Melissa Lefkowitz is a filmmaker and sociocultural anthropologist. Her film work explores transnational connection and fissure, media, mediation, social imaginaries, and the senses. CHINA REMIX, a short documentary co-directed with Dorian Carli-Jones about Nigerian and Ugandan musical artists who live and work in Guangzhou, China, received distribution and screened globally in festivals such as the African Diaspora International Film Festival, Africa World Documentary Film Festival, and Margaret Mead Film Festival, as well as in symposia and classrooms. In addition to her own work, Melissa has served as associate producer for TELL ME ANOTHER STORY (dir. Damani Baker) and archival producer for SOL IN THE GARDEN (dirs. Emily Cohen Ibañez and Débora Souza Silva), which aired on PBS’s POV series. She holds a PhD in Anthropology and Graduate Certificate in Culture and Media from New York University and an MA in East Asian Studies from Harvard University.
About the Protagonist
Liu Yimeng Han:
Key achievements include:
About the Moderator
Flair Donglai SHI is Associate Professor of Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies at the School of Humanities, Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He holds a PhD in English from Oxford University and is a commissioning editor for the A&HCI journal Literature Compass and a core member of CASIN (China-Africa Shanghai International Network). His research areas include world literature theory, race and postcolonial studies, transnational Sinophone cinema, and China-Africa cultural relations. He has published an edited book, World Literature in Motion, and many articles in international journals. His first monograph, Yellow Peril Revisited, will be published soon and his current research project focuses on the interracial politics represented in contemporary China-Africa cultural products.
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