Brief Tender Light

In this documentary we follow four African students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) on their journey towards a better future – for themselves, but also for their home countries Nigeria, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe. Along the way, they face important choices: how do they reconcile their teenage ideals with the truths they discover about themselves and the world? An intimate film that also tells the personal story of the filmmaker.

TALK Brief Tender Light addresses issues that resonate strongly with ongoing debates about the internationalisation of Dutch universities. For many years, the Netherlands has been attracting an increasing number of international students and international employees, whose presence and contributions have had a significant impact on research and teaching. While this shift has opened up new perspectives, it has also had unsettling effects and consequences, for guests as well as hosts.  

What are the opportunities and challenges of internationalisation in the Dutch academy? The Radboud Young Academy invites three international employees – Rayyan Toutounji, Sandy Barasa, and Gaby Contreras – to discuss the insights that they derived from the film. This discussion will be moderated by Maïté Tjon A Hie.  

This program is a collaboration with the Radboud Young Academy. This Talk will be in English.