Home after State Violence examines the increasingly archaic category of “home” in the wake of devastating acts of state violence.  Six contemporary films from Armenia, Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine, and Denmark stage the question of “home” as a disappearing concept at the historical moment when the state—traditionally, the “protector” of the home—now cannot or will not sustain its role.  

The displacement of 10.2 million Ukrainian citizens has produced the largest forced migration since World War II.  These refugees add to 114 million worldwide from Afghanistan, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), and Sudan, refugees for whom “home” is an increasingly elusive idea. The three-day screening of films—spatially from the REEES region; temporally from the recent Putin years (2019-2023)—examines the impact of state assault on private irreplaceability.