Human Rights, Migration, Language, and AI
Join us for a screening of JIN (2026), followed by a discussion with director Hamoun Dolatshahi (filmmaker and UC San Diego alum)
Time & Location
May 14, 2026, 3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Dr, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA
About the event
The first of a three-event series brings together a film screening and discussion with two lectures highlighting interdisciplinary contributions by Kurdish refugee and diasporic communities. Centering the work of award-winning Kurdish-Iranian filmmaker Hamoun Dolatshahi (UC San Diego alum; MFA, UCLA) and Kurdish (Turkish) anthropologist and scholar in exile Dr. Dilşa Deniz (PhD, Yeditepe University, Istanbul; UC San Diego Scholar at Risk in Residence, 2019–2020), the series invites participants to engage questions of gender, human rights, ecology, and technology through a decolonial Kurdish lens.
Join us for a screening of JIN (2026), followed by a discussion with director Hamoun Dolatshahi (filmmaker and UC San Diego alum), Dr. Holly Okonkwo (UC San Diego Department of Ethnic Studies), and Magdalena (Maggy) Donea (PhD candidate in Communication and Science Studies at UC San Diego ).Panelists will reflect on the role of marginalized voices and forms of knowledge in the development and use of AI, with attention to current debates on migration, human rights, intercultural dialogue, and the ethics of emerging technologies.
Featured film:
JIN (Hamoun Dolatshahi, 2025) follows Rojin, a Kurdish researcher who develops an AGI named JIN (Kurdish for “woman”) amid escalating institutional pressures and the risk of a nuclear disaster—raising questions about science, cultural knowledge, language ethics, and Kurdish feminist thought (Jin Jiyan Azadi).
RSVP: forms.gle/6EDnpKKw5kQGraSj9