New film and audio walk about the Bilillee Machbuba Women’s Site at the BTU
On 9 July 2025, students from the BTU4Future module, together with the artist and critical curator Patricia Vester and in collaboration with FrauenOrte Brandenburg,inaugurated the 50th FrauenOrt dedicated to Bilillee Machbuba at the BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg. We are delighted that this FrauenOrt has now been expanded to include a film and an audio walk. Whilst the audio walk puts listeners in Bilillee’s shoes, the film explores the question of Bilillee’s role in Brandenburg’s culture of remembrance.
About the film “Inauguration of the Bilillee Machbuba FrauenOrt”
The 10-minute film documents the inauguration ceremony for the 50th FrauenOrt dedicated to Bilillee in Cottbus. Part of the ceremony was a panel discussion with local stakeholders on the personal and political significance and reception of the Black girl Bilillee. The film documents the discussion that took place on the necessity of Black remembrance culture in Brandenburg, the symbolic power of Bilillee in coming to terms with historical injustice and forced displacement, and the ongoing relevance of racism and colonial structures in Germany.
With contributions from: Prof. Dr Gesine Grande, Dr Gabriela Willbold, Patricia Vester, Dr Adeline Abimnwi Awemo, Mohamed Elhag, Aline Erdmann, Prof. Dr Melanie Jaeger-Erben, Dr Stefan Körner, Robert Büschel, Abnet Mengesha Bekele, Rakshita Bhatt, Elio Gäbelein and Luisa Stuhr
Production: Ralf Schuster and Thomas Rößler, Multimedia Centre/IKZM
You can watch the film here: “Inauguration of the Bilillee Machbuba Women’s Space”
About the audio walk “In the footsteps of Bilillee”
Who was Bilillee? What do we know about her today? What questions must we ask? Which ones will probably never be answered?
The new FrauenOrte audio walk attempts to put ourselves in Bilillee’s shoes and ask questions. Special thanks go to Abnet Mengesha Bekele for the interview and Patricia Vester for the poem.
Production: studio lärm
You can listen to the audio walk here: https://frauenorte-brandenburg.de/bilillee-machbuba/#audio
You can also find all the information about Bilillee, the audio walk and the film on the FrauenOrte page for Bilillee, as well as on the website of the chair of Sociology of Technology and the Environment
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