Titi - In Cyclone's Wake: A film screening and panel discussion
The MSF film screening and panel discussion event took place on Monday 19th May at the Ciné Lumière in South Kensington.
Titi – In Cyclone’s Wake is a film by Greek filmmaker Natasha Blatsiou, produced in collaboration with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Greece.
Set in Madagascar in the wake of Cyclone Freddy, it tells the story of Titi, a nurse from Niger, who travels to the country to lead an MSF malnutrition project.
It is 2023 and Madagascar’s east coast is facing a growing food crisis. Cyclone Freddy is the sixth cyclone to hit the region in 14 months, destroying houses, cutting off communities, ruining crops and leaving people struggling to find enough to eat.
In a race against time, Titi travels to remote areas to find and treat as many malnourished children as possible.
In this region on the frontline of the climate crisis, we are privy to Titi’s inner thoughts and feelings as she methodically carries out her vital medical work.
The film screening was followed by a discussion with the filmmaker and MSF staff about climate change, malnutrition and how MSF is adapting its programmes to respond to ever more daunting challenges.
As the film is still being screened at film festivals and events, unfortunately it is not available to watch online.
The Panel and Chair
Krupa Padhy (event chair)
Krupa is a BBC Radio, podcast, and TV broadcaster. She presents flagship programmes such as Woman's Hour and The World Tonight on BBC Radio 4. She has been a known voice across the BBC World Service Radio for over 17 years, hosting live news programmes such as Newshour, Outside Source and Weekend. As well as radio, Krupa was a TV anchor on the BBC World News for over ten years, specialising in live global news coverage. She has covered some of the biggest stories of our time, from the Arab Spring and return of the Taliban in Afghanistan to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza.
Natasha Blatsiou
Natasha is a documentary filmmaker and producer, a writer, and a lecturer based in Athens, Greece. Her short films have been screened and awarded at international festivals, while her short stories appear in fiction anthologies. With a background in journalism, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship as an artist-in-residence at MIT’s Open Documentary Lab in 2022. She holds a BSc in International and European Economic Studies and an MSc in International Relations and Strategy.
Brian Willett
Brian has been working with MSF since 2008 and has undertaken postings in Chad, Haiti, Djibouti, Iraq, Myanmar, Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Central African Republic, South Sudan and Madagascar. He worked in MSF’s headquarters in Geneva on organisational strategic planning and planetary health strategy and is currently working on longer-term structural planning for organisational resilience in a rapidly and profoundly changing world. Brian was Country Director for MSF in Madagascar at the time of the filming of Titi - In Cyclone’s Wake.
Dr Prudence Jarrett
Pru is a paediatrician based in London. She has worked with MSF in the Central African Republic and Afghanistan where she treated children with complications from severe acute malnutrition. She has also worked in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Eswatini and Zimbabwe as an epidemiologist and public health practitioner.