Music documentary “Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.” will be playing at 7 p.m. April 8 at the IU Cinema.
The documentary tells the story of how rapper, singer and songwriter M.I.A. went from being a displaced immigrant as a child to internationally-known musician as an adult.
The award-winning film was released in 2018 and is directed by Steve Loveridge. It won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2018.
The film is apart of a series by the IU Asian Culture Center and the Asian American Studies Program called "Movement, Asian/Pacific America."
Matangi Arulpragasam, known now as M.I.A., was born to Sri Lankan parents in London in 1975. Her family moved back to Sri Lanka when she was six months old. The Sri Lankan Civil War began in 1983, and according to the documentary’s website, Arulpragasam’s father founded the Tamil armed resistance in Sri Lanka during the war.
The family returned to the United Kingdom where Arulpragasam began to go by Maya and then went on to become M.I.A.
The artist’s music deals with immigration and immigrants, with lyrics like “If you catch me at the border / I got visas in my name,” from her 2007 song “Paper Planes.”
“Matangi/Maya/M.I.A.” is one hour and 36 minutes and features footage from over 22 years of home video the musician took herself. The documentary offers an up-close and intimate look into the rapper’s life, according to the film’s website.
The event is free and open to the public but ticketed.
