Ms Sana Bilgrami

Festival Screening: Madrid Experimental Cinema Festival, Spain 2005

Public screenings and discussion: Black History Month, Edinburgh and Glasgow, October 2018

Interview: The Express Tribune Newspaper, Pakistan, 26th March 2013

Panel Chair: De/Post/Anti-Colonial Archives (Shaking the Archives Conference 2023)
2023 - 2023

Recognition Type Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

Affiliated Organisations Queen Margaret University

Research Areas Cultural heritage

Research Themes Culture and Communities

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Creative Practice Research

Recognition Type	Advisory panels and expert committees or witness
Affiliated Organisations	Queen Margaret University
Research Areas	Cultural heritage
Research Themes	Culture and Communities
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Creative Practice Research

BAFTA Scotland Awards 2023 Juror: Short Film and Animation Category
2023 - 2023

Recognition Type Advisory panels and expert committees or witness

Research Areas Film and television

Research Themes Culture and Communities

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Creative Practice Research

Recognition Type	Advisory panels and expert committees or witness
Research Areas	Film and television
Research Themes	Culture and Communities
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Creative Practice Research

MeCCSA 2025
2025 - 2025

Recognition Type Conference Organising Activity

Description MeCCSA (Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association) 2025 Conference, 4-6th September 2025, Edinburgh Napier University

Theme: Identity and Belonging

Media and culture play a crucial role in shaping identity, especially in contemporary contexts marked by economic struggles, conflict, and migration. The significance of identity is heightened as individuals navigate their sense of self in new and evolving cultural and social environments. This raises questions about how identities can be preserved or adapted, and the responsibilities of academics and researchers in addressing identities at risk.

Questions of identity have been at the heart of MeCCSA disciplines and debates for a long time. How identities are mediated and how they mediate themselves is often at the core of our work. MeCCSA sections and networks in many ways reflect this across gender, race and ethnicity, disability, social movements, etc. Our 2025 conference seeks to further this questioning, whilst also considering the issue of belonging. Whether we belong to research communities that embody media, communications or cultural studies, and whether we belong to groups that prioritise areas such as climate change, policy or conflict, this conference provides an opportunity to reflect on the character of our diverse disciplines and where we find spaces of belonging.

Affiliated Organisations Edinburgh Napier University

Research Areas Cultural heritage
Music
Intercultural Communication
Film and television
Ethics and sustainability

Research Themes Culture and Communities
AI and Technologies

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Creative Practice Research

Recognition Type	Conference Organising Activity
Description	MeCCSA (Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association) 2025 Conference, 4-6th September 2025, Edinburgh Napier University Theme: Identity and Belonging Media and culture play a crucial role in shaping identity, especially in contemporary contexts marked by economic struggles, conflict, and migration. The significance of identity is heightened as individuals navigate their sense of self in new and evolving cultural and social environments. This raises questions about how identities can be preserved or adapted, and the responsibilities of academics and researchers in addressing identities at risk. Questions of identity have been at the heart of MeCCSA disciplines and debates for a long time. How identities are mediated and how they mediate themselves is often at the core of our work. MeCCSA sections and networks in many ways reflect this across gender, race and ethnicity, disability, social movements, etc. Our 2025 conference seeks to further this questioning, whilst also considering the issue of belonging. Whether we belong to research communities that embody media, communications or cultural studies, and whether we belong to groups that prioritise areas such as climate change, policy or conflict, this conference provides an opportunity to reflect on the character of our diverse disciplines and where we find spaces of belonging.
Affiliated Organisations	Edinburgh Napier University
Research Areas	Cultural heritage Music Intercultural Communication Film and television Ethics and sustainability
Research Themes	Culture and Communities AI and Technologies
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Creative Practice Research

Shaking the Archives Conference
2023 - 2023

Recognition Type Conference Organising Activity

Description Shaking the Archive - Reconsidering the Role of Archives in Contemporary Society: A Multidisciplinary HYBRID Conference that Interrogates the Power of and in Archives

The last decade has seen an exponential rise in scholarly work on archives and preservation. Certainly, the contribution of archival research and practice has brought about individual and sometimes heroic efforts to safeguard the future of a little-known or under-explored history and its ephemera. This approach is relevant to most disciplines: culture, the arts, healthcare, sociology, and governance expend significant energy on archives, archiving, and safeguarding past objects and knowledge.

Questions around the role(s) of cultural memory and archives in the present challenge sectors to reflect on how we can collectively rethink the (opportunistic) use of these individual and institutional archives. These physical materials are increasingly pertinent in the face of the ubiquity of our digital world. The questions we want to ask are: Where is ‘history’ located if we’re constantly looking to the future? How can contemporary communities engage with ‘old’ ephemera? What is the ‘correct’ form of an archive? What is the role archives play in remembering? How do institutions make visible and accessible their archival materials? How can personal, national, and global archives better act as a collective memory? What is collective memory? What are the gaps in knowledge and how do we deal with unknown histories? What practices and methodologies are in place to engage with the vulnerable materialities of and in archives? How do we ethically deal with ownership and how do we effectively decolonize archives? How do we deal with the embodied memory of the past in the form of living and vulnerable archives? How can embodied memory shape archive? What tools would allow us to engage and interact with the polyphonic documentation of archives? How can archives better serve the specific communities of which they are the cultural product?

This 2-day hybrid conference was hosted by Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh on 23-24 June 2023. It aims to engage with diverse sectors and subject areas to explore how archives can be interrogated, reimagined, and represented. We invite reflection around elements that are left out of mainstream historiography and expand knowledge beyond the surface of the visible. We effectively want to challenge, deconstruct and expand the power dynamics inherent to general or institutional knowledge.

Keynote speakers:

Abigail De Kosnik, Director, Berkeley Center for New Media and author of Rogue Archives: Digital Cultural Memory and Media Fandom (MIT Press, 2021)
Helen Fothergill, Service Manager – Archives, Gallery & Museums, Aberdeen Art Gallery

Affiliated Organisations Queen Margaret University

Research Areas Art and design
Cultural heritage
Film and television

Research Themes Culture and Communities

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Creative Practice Research

Recognition Type	Conference Organising Activity
Description	Shaking the Archive - Reconsidering the Role of Archives in Contemporary Society: A Multidisciplinary HYBRID Conference that Interrogates the Power of and in Archives The last decade has seen an exponential rise in scholarly work on archives and preservation. Certainly, the contribution of archival research and practice has brought about individual and sometimes heroic efforts to safeguard the future of a little-known or under-explored history and its ephemera. This approach is relevant to most disciplines: culture, the arts, healthcare, sociology, and governance expend significant energy on archives, archiving, and safeguarding past objects and knowledge. Questions around the role(s) of cultural memory and archives in the present challenge sectors to reflect on how we can collectively rethink the (opportunistic) use of these individual and institutional archives. These physical materials are increasingly pertinent in the face of the ubiquity of our digital world. The questions we want to ask are: Where is ‘history’ located if we’re constantly looking to the future? How can contemporary communities engage with ‘old’ ephemera? What is the ‘correct’ form of an archive? What is the role archives play in remembering? How do institutions make visible and accessible their archival materials? How can personal, national, and global archives better act as a collective memory? What is collective memory? What are the gaps in knowledge and how do we deal with unknown histories? What practices and methodologies are in place to engage with the vulnerable materialities of and in archives? How do we ethically deal with ownership and how do we effectively decolonize archives? How do we deal with the embodied memory of the past in the form of living and vulnerable archives? How can embodied memory shape archive? What tools would allow us to engage and interact with the polyphonic documentation of archives? How can archives better serve the specific communities of which they are the cultural product? This 2-day hybrid conference was hosted by Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh on 23-24 June 2023. It aims to engage with diverse sectors and subject areas to explore how archives can be interrogated, reimagined, and represented. We invite reflection around elements that are left out of mainstream historiography and expand knowledge beyond the surface of the visible. We effectively want to challenge, deconstruct and expand the power dynamics inherent to general or institutional knowledge. Keynote speakers: Abigail De Kosnik, Director, Berkeley Center for New Media and author of Rogue Archives: Digital Cultural Memory and Media Fandom (MIT Press, 2021) Helen Fothergill, Service Manager – Archives, Gallery & Museums, Aberdeen Art Gallery
Affiliated Organisations	Queen Margaret University
Research Areas	Art and design Cultural heritage Film and television
Research Themes	Culture and Communities
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Creative Practice Research

External Examiner for MA Editing Post Production, Bournemouth University
2023

Recognition Type External Examining/Validations

Affiliated Organisations Bournemouth University

Research Areas Film and television

Research Themes Culture and Communities

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Creative Practice Research

Recognition Type	External Examining/Validations
Affiliated Organisations	Bournemouth University
Research Areas	Film and television
Research Themes	Culture and Communities
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Creative Practice Research

Seminar: University of the West of Scotland (UWS) 2024
2024 - 2024

Recognition Type Invited Speaker

Description I gave a talk on 'South Asian Women in Scottish Cinema' at a seminar for staff and research at University of the West of Scotland.

Affiliated Organisations University of the West of Scotland

Research Areas Cultural heritage
Film and television

Research Themes Culture and Communities

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Creative Practice Research

Projects Representation of South Asian women in Scottish Cinema

Org Units School of Arts and Creative Industries

Recognition Type	Invited Speaker
Description	I gave a talk on 'South Asian Women in Scottish Cinema' at a seminar for staff and research at University of the West of Scotland.
Affiliated Organisations	University of the West of Scotland
Research Areas	Cultural heritage Film and television
Research Themes	Culture and Communities
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Creative Practice Research
Projects	Representation of South Asian women in Scottish Cinema
Org Units	School of Arts and Creative Industries

Colloquium: Scottish Film and TV: Where Now? 2024
2024 - 2024

Recognition Type Invited Speaker

Description I presented a paper on 'South Asian Women in Scottish Cinema' at this Colloquium.

Affiliated Organisations Queen Margaret University

Research Areas Cultural heritage
Film and television

Research Themes Culture and Communities

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Creative Practice Research

Projects Representation of South Asian women in Scottish Cinema

Org Units School of Arts and Creative Industries

Recognition Type	Invited Speaker
Description	I presented a paper on 'South Asian Women in Scottish Cinema' at this Colloquium.
Affiliated Organisations	Queen Margaret University
Research Areas	Cultural heritage Film and television
Research Themes	Culture and Communities
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Creative Practice Research
Projects	Representation of South Asian women in Scottish Cinema
Org Units	School of Arts and Creative Industries

Visible Evidence Conference, Gdansk, Poland, August 2022
2022 - 2022

Recognition Type Invited Speaker

Research Areas Film and television

Research Themes Culture and Communities

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Creative Practice Research

Org Units School of Arts and Creative Industries

Recognition Type	Invited Speaker
Research Areas	Film and television
Research Themes	Culture and Communities
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Creative Practice Research
Org Units	School of Arts and Creative Industries

MeCCSA 'Silenced Voices' conference, Aberdeen, September 2022
2022 - 2022

Recognition Type Invited Speaker

Research Areas Cultural heritage
Film and television
Gender
Migration and Mobility

Research Themes Culture and Communities

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Creative Practice Research

Projects Representation of South Asian women in Scottish Cinema

Org Units School of Arts and Creative Industries

Recognition Type	Invited Speaker
Research Areas	Cultural heritage Film and television Gender Migration and Mobility
Research Themes	Culture and Communities
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Creative Practice Research
Projects	Representation of South Asian women in Scottish Cinema
Org Units	School of Arts and Creative Industries

Make Film History: BBC 100 - Archives for Education 2022
2022 - 2022

Recognition Type Invited Speaker

Affiliated Organisations Kingston University
National Library of Scotland

Research Areas Film and television
Cultural heritage

Research Themes Culture and Communities

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Creative Practice Research

Recognition Type	Invited Speaker
Affiliated Organisations	Kingston University National Library of Scotland
Research Areas	Film and television Cultural heritage
Research Themes	Culture and Communities
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Creative Practice Research

International Media Education Summit, Leeds, April 2021
2021 - 2021

Recognition Type Invited Speaker

Affiliated Organisations University of Leeds

Research Areas Film and television

Research Themes Culture and Communities

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Arts, Media and Culture

URL https://www.cemp.ac.uk/summit/2020/

Recognition Type	Invited Speaker
Affiliated Organisations	University of Leeds
Research Areas	Film and television
Research Themes	Culture and Communities
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Arts, Media and Culture
URL	https://www.cemp.ac.uk/summit/2020/

'The power of the metaphorical: reflections and diffractions in archival research' Conference, London, 13th March 2017
2017 - 2017

Recognition Type Invited Speaker

Affiliated Organisations University of East London

Research Areas Film and television

Research Themes AI and Technologies

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Arts, Media and Culture

URL https://sites.google.com/site/thebookarchiveproject/conferences-and-research-events/london-the-power-of-the-metaphorical

Recognition Type	Invited Speaker
Affiliated Organisations	University of East London
Research Areas	Film and television
Research Themes	AI and Technologies
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Arts, Media and Culture
URL	https://sites.google.com/site/thebookarchiveproject/conferences-and-research-events/london-the-power-of-the-metaphorical

Presentation at 'Looking for Nurses and Midwives in your Family' event 2024
2024 - 2024

Recognition Type Public/Community Engagement

Description Edinburgh Napier University, the Royal College of Nursing, and the National Library of Scotland offered a 1-day event for people who want to find out about nurses or midwives connected to their family.

There were be short presentations and introductions to family history research from librarians, researchers, and archivists, and opportunities to learn about online searching. There will also be the chance to ask questions and get guidance on how to find out more about the nurse or midwife in your family.

Affiliated Organisations National Library of Scotland

Research Areas Cultural heritage
Families and Relationships

Research Themes Culture and Communities
Health

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Creative Practice Research

Recognition Type	Public/Community Engagement
Description	Edinburgh Napier University, the Royal College of Nursing, and the National Library of Scotland offered a 1-day event for people who want to find out about nurses or midwives connected to their family. There were be short presentations and introductions to family history research from librarians, researchers, and archivists, and opportunities to learn about online searching. There will also be the chance to ask questions and get guidance on how to find out more about the nurse or midwife in your family.
Affiliated Organisations	National Library of Scotland
Research Areas	Cultural heritage Families and Relationships
Research Themes	Culture and Communities Health
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Creative Practice Research

'Representation of South Asian Women in Scottish Cinema' Film Screenings and Discussions 2024
2024 - 2024

Recognition Type Public/Community Engagement

Description Representation of South Asian Women in Scottish Cinema
Free Film Screenings curated by Sana Bilgrami

South Asian communities appear on the periphery of Scottish cinema where films have predominantly explored narratives about white Scottish masculinity and female voices often struggle to be heard. South Asian women are virtually invisible except in a scattering of documentary and fiction films.

How are South Asian female characters represented in Scottish films? This series of film screenings is intended to provoke discussions that might create space to challenge stereotyping and explore new possibilities of representation.

PROGRAMME

Saturday 8th June 2024
Red Lecture Theatre, Summerhall
BOOK your FREE tickets at www.summerhall.co.uk/sh-event/representation-of-south-asian-women-in-scottish-cinema

1 - 3pm: Nina's Heavenly Delights (Pratibha Parmar, 2006, 94 minutes) + discussion

3:30pm - 5:45pm: 'Migration and Belonging': short films + discussion with filmmakers
Meet Me by the Water (Raisa Ahmed, 2016, 15 min)
Ethnoresidue (Jasleen Kaur, 2020, 20 min)
Across the Waters (Sana Bilgrami, 2004, 28 min)
Points of Departure (Alia Syed, 2014, 16 min)

6 - 7pm: Samosas, chai and conversation

7pm - 9:15pm: Ae Fond Kiss (Ken Loach, 2004, 100 min) + discussion

Affiliated Organisations Royal Society of Edinburgh

Research Areas Cultural heritage
Film and television

Research Themes Culture and Communities

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Creative Practice Research

Projects Representation of South Asian women in Scottish Cinema

Org Units School of Arts and Creative Industries

Recognition Type	Public/Community Engagement
Description	Representation of South Asian Women in Scottish Cinema Free Film Screenings curated by Sana Bilgrami South Asian communities appear on the periphery of Scottish cinema where films have predominantly explored narratives about white Scottish masculinity and female voices often struggle to be heard. South Asian women are virtually invisible except in a scattering of documentary and fiction films. How are South Asian female characters represented in Scottish films? This series of film screenings is intended to provoke discussions that might create space to challenge stereotyping and explore new possibilities of representation. PROGRAMME Saturday 8th June 2024 Red Lecture Theatre, Summerhall BOOK your FREE tickets at www.summerhall.co.uk/sh-event/representation-of-south-asian-women-in-scottish-cinema 1 - 3pm: Nina's Heavenly Delights (Pratibha Parmar, 2006, 94 minutes) + discussion 3:30pm - 5:45pm: 'Migration and Belonging': short films + discussion with filmmakers Meet Me by the Water (Raisa Ahmed, 2016, 15 min) Ethnoresidue (Jasleen Kaur, 2020, 20 min) Across the Waters (Sana Bilgrami, 2004, 28 min) Points of Departure (Alia Syed, 2014, 16 min) 6 - 7pm: Samosas, chai and conversation 7pm - 9:15pm: Ae Fond Kiss (Ken Loach, 2004, 100 min) + discussion
Affiliated Organisations	Royal Society of Edinburgh
Research Areas	Cultural heritage Film and television
Research Themes	Culture and Communities
Research Centres/Groups	Centre for Creative Practice Research
Projects	Representation of South Asian women in Scottish Cinema
Org Units	School of Arts and Creative Industries

Queering Participatory Archives & National Collections at National Library of Scotland 2023
2023 - 2023

Recognition Type Public/Community Engagement

Description The Living Archives is a collaborative research project in which we explore connections between archives, identity and materiality. We challenge the hierarchy and centrality of institutional archives by inviting participants to recognise the value of personal archival artefacts through an exploratory, creative and discursive process.
In August 2022, experimental filmmaker, radical archist and curator, Lydia Beilby, and filmmaker/lecturer, Sana Bilgrami, worked with Alchemy festival. We held workshops in Hawick with a group of queer/non-binary young adults, using physical film and archival
objects to engage with concepts of identity and to challenge the dominance of digital culture and the hierarchy of public archives. The group shot a short black and white 16mm film on a Bolex camera. They used the language of experimental film to explore their personal archives and identities, and created their own archive on a film-strip.
In this workshop, we aim to deepen and widen our conversations on participatory archives and identity. In collaboration with the National Library of Scotland (NLS), we will invite a wider group of ten new participants from LGBT Youth Scotland. At NLS premises, we will
analogue-project the Alchemy group's 16mm film alongside a curated selection of short films, followed by a roundtable workshop on archives and identity. The Alchemy young filmmakers will reflect on claiming space to express their identity and on physical archive-making as a creative process. All participants will explore inclusive possibilities of breaking barriers between conventional and counter archives, and creating a sense of belonging, through a sharing of personal archival objects whilst exploring relevant books and ephemera from the Library's archives.

Affiliated Organisations National Library of Scotland

Research Areas Cultural heritage
Film and television

Research Themes Culture and Communities

Research Centres/Groups Centre for Creative Practice Research

Ms Sana Bilgrami's Recognition (58)