Dicky Bahto: A note on the ruins for visitors

Los Angeles Filmforum presents

Dicky Bahto: A note on the ruins for visitors

World Premiere with Dicky Bahto in person!

Sunday October 4, 2026, 7:30 pm

At 2220 Arts + Archives, 2220 Beverly Blvd. Los Angeles CA 90057

Full info: www.lafilmforum.org

Tickets: $15 general, $10 students/seniors, free for Filmforum members
https://link.dice.fm/f6951169162a

A note on the ruins for visitors is a deeply personal portrait of the Assyrian community from fragments of material drawn from Bahto's family history, ancient artifacts, and collaborations with contemporary artists working across the diaspora. "When Daesh invades Iraq and released videos of themselves destroying ancient Assyrian artworks in the Mosul Museum," Bahto explains, "I found myself thinking more deeply about my relationship to this history as a grandchild of survivors of Seyfo–the Assyrian genocide. In fact, I realized that the genocide hadn't ended." The film investigates the materiality of cultural memory alongside its personal and spiritual dimensions, embodying the rebuilding of a community and connection to culture that honors the past while insisting on an open future.

The film features visual artwork, music, and writing by, as well as portraits of, Assyrian, Chaldean, and other artists drawing on Assyrian culture, language, and music, including Esther Elia, Maryam Yousif, Lolita Emmanuel, Tenise Marie, Sami Seif, Monette Eiliazadeh, Deena Ana, Andrew Najor, Anna Kingsley, Rami Kingsley, Enanna Sheena, and more.

The film was finished with thanks to an Atelier 105 residency at Light Cone, Paris

Dicky Bahto has exhibited work utilizing still and motion picture photography, sound, and performance at a variety of museums, galleries, microcinemas, film festivals, conferences, alternative spaces, and scenic locations spanning the Northern Hemisphere, from the Museum of Modern Art in New York to a series of nooks, crannies, and underbrush along and under Sunset Boulevard. He has works in the permanent collections of The Getty Museum and the Huntington Library, Museum, and Gardens. He frequently collaborates with musicians, both as a performer and as a visual artist, including Sarah Davachi, Liz Harris (Grouper & Nivhek), Julia Holter, and Tashi Wada, as well as with his partner, Patrick Londen, and their cats Simone and Katoosh.