Rafika Chawishe

Rafika Chawishe is a British stage and film actress, video art director, and children's rights activist born in 1986. She founded the theater company Zlap in 2014 and has worked extensively in political and documentary theater across Greece. Her directorial work spans performance art and film: she directed *Mimesis Machine* at the National Theatre of Oslo during the Ibsen Festival, was commissioned by the NEON foundation in 2017 to create a new media installation performance (opened May 2018 at Museum Benaki), and directed three short films screened at Seoul International, Palm Springs, Cannes Short Film Corner, and Locarno film festivals. In 2014, she was selected as one of 25 most promising European young filmmakers at Locarno Film Festival's Young Filmmakers Academy. Her theater adaptation *Little Eyolf*, based on Ibsen's play, interrogated freedom and human responsibility through interviews with 150 unaccompanied refugee minors at Moria reception center in Lesvos; the work won her the Ibsen scholarship Award. As an actress, Chawishe has performed in A. Avranas's award-winning film *Miss Violence*, held a minor role as Melina Merkouri in *Dance Fight Love Die* (selected for Hoff International Film Festival competition), and performed on stages including the National Theater of Greece, Athens Festival, and ancient theater of Epidavre in roles including Solange in Jean Genet's *Maids* (directed by Bruce Myers), the Jewish wife in Brecht's play (directed by F. Papadodima), and transgender character Eidrian/Fiona in Jon Brittain's *Rotterdam*. As a Capricorn born January 13, her life-path number 11 [enrichments] reflects her visionary activism bridging art, documentary witness, and advocacy for unaccompanied minors. Actors perform across stage and screen while directing, producing, and creating new works in their fields.