In April 2023, Fatmata, a 23-year-old woman from Sierra Leone, was shot at the North Macedonia–Greece border, shedding light on the harsh realities of migration along the Balkan Route. Rooted in feminist research, Notes on an Impossible Chronicle serves as a counter-narrative that re-archives both past and present by including the experiences of those often excluded from the historical record. This hybrid audio-visual project comprises a short feminist essay film, an installation and an art book. It cinematically transforms absences into a fragmented archive of migrant women’s survival. The project exposes the violence and erasure inherent in migration policies, challenges dominant narratives and, by creating a visual and sonic space for envisioning possible futures, explores what could have been and what might still be.
Kumjana Novakova is a research-based filmmaker, audio-visual artist, film curator and lecturer. Born in former Yugoslavia, she is an associate professor at the Netherlands Film Academy.
