On February 25, 2015, the Block Museum was lucky to host renowned filmmaker, writer, and composer Trinh T. Minh-ha.

Minh-ha addressed the way that reality, in its social and historical dimension, is not a material for artistic reflection or political commitment. Rather, reality is what powerfully draws one to cinema and yet, it cannot be captured without dissolving itself in its fragile essence when one approaches it without subtlety and vulnerability.

Minh-ha’s lecture discussed the politicization of everyday life. She also touched on the difference between making a political film versus making a film politically. According to Minh-ha, films are made to change the perspective of our understanding of reality.

Minh-ha concluded her lecture with a screening of her films Naked Space and Old Land New Waters. Naked Space takes an intimate and immersive look at a group of people living in Senegal. Old Land New Waters is a video installation shot in Vietnam that is intended to be experience as an encounter between land and water.