By Kristi Alexandra
@kristialexandra
Adhel Arop grew up in Burnaby, BC living between two identities. At school, the Kenyan-born model was known as Lois–the self-proclaimed weird girl who loved drawing and anime. At home, with her Sudanese family, she was Adthel, a name that translates to “the road that moves forward.”
In Africa, she and her family lived through war–seeing refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda–before they moved to a quieter life in the BC suburbs. They didn’t talk about the past anymore. That was, until, Arop discovered her mother–the stoic Amel Madut–was a former Sudanese child soldier.
It’s at this crux of realization that the docu-short, “Who Am I,” begins.
“For my family, it was like the elephant in the room,” Arop shares about her mother’s complicated past. And there’s a good reason the 22-year-old filmmaker wanted to explore that part of her identity onscreen.
“Filmmaking is a really important medium to me. I grew up infront of a TV, I grew up watching anime and Korean dramas. I was really into that world of storytelling. I’ve always been watching movies and that’s the way my family connected,” she reveals.
“The TV has always been around and it’s been the way we can come together without having to talk about anything. We just watch and it’s a way of connecting.”
Since making the film, she says, the rest of her family has been offering up their own stories.
“Everyone has been so hungry to support me, and I’ve had other people in my community reach out and share their stories about the war,” she says.
To Arop, who received a grant from TELUS STORYHIVE to create “Who Am I,” making a film was the best way for her to chronicle her own self-discovery.
“I’m a visual learner, so making things visually is the easiest way for me to get my point across. Making a film is easier because I can just show people what’s in my mind,” she says.
And what’s on her mind these days is bringing her film and her newfound confidence to young kids who may be similarly struggling with their identity. Arop is now finding a way to work with the Burnaby School Board to have “Who Am I” screened, with identity workshops to follow. Coinciding with Black History Month, Arop helped host a children’s youth conference last Friday (February 28) in Edmonds, complete with workshops around identity–including freestyle rapping, researching online libraries from the black diaspora, and poetry readings.
“When I started modelling [at the age of 14], I started to be embraced as a beautiful girl. It was hard to switch that narrative. It’s not that I didn’t think I was beautiful, it’s that I wasn’t really celebrated, being a dark-skinned black girl in Vancouver,” she says, attributing her projected extroversion to modelling.
Using that confidence, she was able to jump headfirst into filmmaking and pave the way for others.
“I’m just trying to teach kids that it’s okay to be different, it’s okay to be an individual, and there’s so many ways to get where you want to be in life, but it’s about choosing the path that’s right for you,” she says.
“Finding yourself is lifelong. I don’t have any formal certification that says I can do what I do. I just do it. If you can spark that curiousity in learning, and show that learning can come in different ways, that’s what drives me.”
Who Am I screens as part of the “In Search of Self and Home” shorts segment on Wednesday, March 4 at Vancouver International Women in Film Festival. The festival runs from today (March 3) until March 8. See the program guide and get tickets at https://viwff.ca/.
Kristi Alexandra is an unabashed wino and wannabe musician. Her talents include drinking an entire bottle of cabernet sauvignon, singing in the bathtub, and falling asleep.
