Requiem For Justice 2024 – Day 1

More about the speakers and performers…

Kirsten van den Hul is director of DutchCulture, the Dutch network and knowledge organisation for international cultural cooperation. Before joining DutchCulture, she worked as an independent consultant through her own company, The Change Agent, working on different transition projects, mainly in the public sector. Previously, she was a member of parliament for the Dutch Labour Party, where she focused on culture, education, gender equality, foreign trade and development. Prior to that, she was active on the crossroads between culture, human rights and international cooperation, at different organisations including the European Cultural Foundation and Mama Cash. She lived, studied and worked in Tunisia and has extensive work experience in Eastern Europe and the MENA region. She is the former UN Women representative of the Netherlands. Kirsten was a columnist for different newspapers and magazines, contributed to a number of publications and wrote a book, called (S)hevolution.

Laila Hourani is a cultural leader and novelist with twenty-five years’ experience in art, culture and media development, intercultural relations and partnership building for social impact.
Laila moved to Norway in 2021 to join the Norwegian cultural rights organization MIMETA, as Program Director. She left MIMETA in 2023 and shifted to self-employment as an expert consultant. She has been Senior Program Officer at the Ford Foundation MENA office in Cairo, Regional Director Creativity and Mutuality at the British Syria and Assistant Information and Communication at UNICEF Syria. Laila has developed strategies and programs that have contributed to enhancing creative cultural expression in the Arab region, Africa and their diasporas in Europe. She has also supported the seeding and institutional strengthening of narrative change civil society organisations that give voice to communities in distress, like Syrian refugees and artists at risk.

Hanna Atallah, is a filmmaker, producer and cultural art manager, based between Berlin and Jerusalem. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Cinema Studies from the High Institute of Cinema in the Egyptian Academy of Arts. His experience covers filmmaking projects, both fiction and documentary.

Atallah aims to empower unheard voices throughout his professional career. With the creation of the non-profit organisation of “Filmlab: Palestine” in 2014 in Ramallah, he developed a platform to activate cinema culture, work on audience awareness and invest in professional knowledge exchange in Palestine, which opened the door for a regional and international network for Palestinian film professionals. Moreover, Atallah was the initiator, producer and manager of the Palestinian Memory Documentation Project in Talbiyeh Refugee Camp in Jordan. He is the founder and Artistic Director of Palestine Cinema Days.

Banshee is a multi-award winning human rights defender who uses spoken word poetry and music, to promote creative advocacy. Born in Harare in the year 1999, Banshee delivered her first performance at the House of Hunger Poetry Slam in 2017 and has since represented Zimbabwe on various platforms in both Europe and Africa. Owing to her fierce passion for social justice, Banshee spearheads a womanist movement called Shee and hosts an annual mental wellness event called Battlescars and Healing. Her words embody safety, are a call to action and a true attestation of the strength of the African spirit.

Banshee strives to empower the masses through an adroit blend of spoken word poetry, storytelling and hip hop. She explores the deepest parts of the human experience in her work and unpacks issues to do with social justice. Her passion and tenacity are a result of her commitment to amplifying the voices of the marginalized (with a special focus on women), as well as calling the rightful enforcers of positive change to action. She, through her thought-provoking lyricism and emotional resonance,aims to build community and transform lives. Her greatest hope is to become a distinct voice among many.

Xabiso Vili is a multi-award winning performer, writer, new media artist, producer, director, digital strategist and social activist, who has the following accolades under his belt: World Poetry Slam Champion, Mandela Washington Fellow and Mail & Guardian top 200 Young South African. He is the founder of Siziintsomi Creations, a creative incubator company that focuses on the intersection of storytelling, innovative mediums and healing. An Electric South New Dimensions Lab 5 alumni and a Business and Arts South Africa Cultural Producer Programme cohort and a Future Africa Grant recipient which allowed him to create a new poetry visual album in virtual reality.

Atheer Yacoub is a New York-based comedian with a Palestinian-Muslim upbringing straight out of Alabama. She recently released her comedy album, Denied Entry, where she navigates the treacherous waters of growing up in the Middle East and the South. She’s been seen on Comedy Central Arabia for a half-hour special, AXSTV’s Gotham Comedy Live, and is a frequent guest on Sirius XM. You can stream her award-winning sketch show Muslim Girls DTF: Discuss Their Faith, which is now streaming on Fuse TV. Atheer can be found touring the country and internationally.