Online programme

A Monster Outside of Human Laws

Director’s statement: A year ago I found myself at a difficult crossroad when my UK visa was due to expire. I had to choose between migrating economically and seeking asylum. Each route would ultimately determine the possession of extremely different rights. In this film I unpack the disparity in rights we possess and acquire through immigration and how this is ultimately tied to capital.

Dir: nnull

Length: 15 mins

Anywhere But Here

A metacommentary about wanting to go places and see new faces, but being prevented from doing so by the Covid-19 pandemic. The narrator unravels a bittersweet resolution in the self-reflexive filmmaking process as we dive deeper into her dreamscape.

Dir: Maitry Rao

Length: 3 mins

Away

A new immigrant applies for a visa and endures the long and demanding wait for approval or denial.

An epistolary poetic film that navigates the inner thoughts of the applicant for half of the two-year process for a residency visa in Canada.

Dir: Ludmylla Reis

Length: 6 mins

Like the Wind (Como el Viento)

The circumstances of life lead Mara, a Creole woman, to become a gypsy. Through this character we will delve into the depth and daily life of this community. We will see them tell in the first person fragments of their life, their customs and the contradiction that is generated every day between the old gypsies and the new generations.

Dir: Raquel Ruiz

Length: 66 mins

The Face of a City

The stories of four Iranian families who emigrate to Canada and the city they leave behind. As the departure time approaches, social spaces turn into places of memory, fading into the distance.

Dir: Farhad Pakdel

Length: 11 mins

Hostile

Told through the stories of four participants from Black and Asian backgrounds, the film focuses on the impact of the evolving ‘hostile environment’ policies that target migrants. The film explores how the lives of international students, members of the Windrush generation and ‘Highly-Skilled Migrants’ have been affected. What does it mean to be British? What does it feel like to be told you don’t belong? This film seeks to hear these voices and inspire viewers to take action to create long-term change.

Dir: Sonita Gale

SPECIAL EVENT: On 8 December we’re delighted to be hosting an online screening of Hostile followed by a Q&A with experts on the UK’s ‘hostile environment’ policies. Book your free tickets here.

Jude

A seven year old boy is torn from his home in Dresden on Kristallnacht, rushed across the border into Czechoslovakia to escape the Nazis in Germany, then ripped from his parents on the eve of war. His grandson, Director Amos Menin, blends family photographs with archival and contemporary footage to form a deeply personal and emotive backdrop, against which the survivor recalls the dramatic and devastating story of his escape from the Holocaust, and came to England on Nicholas Winton’s last Kindertransport. A poignant and deeply moving story of racial hatred from the child’s view yet speaks of the insurmountable human spirit.

Dir: Amos Menin

Length: 10 mins

La Lucha: The Fightback

Whilst facing injustice and exploitation in the UK, nine cleaners from Latin America unite to make a play about their fight for understanding.

They make creative decisions about how to tell their stories, in the process reliving the hope and the trauma of leaving home. However, during rehearsals two of the performers flee the country after being attacked at work. London is then plunged into lockdown and the women must come up with a way to finish the play.

Dir: Mark Knightley

Length: 22 mins

Nanmin

Each year, thousands of refugees from around the world seek asylum in Japan, but only 0.1% of applicants are accepted. Nanmin shows life as an asylum seeker in Japan, focusing on the secretive migrant detention centers and harsh parole system in interviews with activists, lawyers, and refugees.

Dir: Adam Shaw

Length: 20 mins

Question (Prashna)

Ganga and her husband Rajkumar work as seasonal sugar cane cutting labourers on a contract basis. They have to migrate from place to place for the work leaving behind their Native Village. Their only son Ganesh has to accompany them. This is a problem for Ganesh’s educational progress as he is absent every year for three months. This tells the story of how Ganga overcomes the problem of Ganesh’s education and in doing so finds a way of acquiring knowledge for her own progress.

Dir: Santosh Ram

Length: 24 mins

Routes

In Belgrade, Serbia, Diana, Sam and Felix operate a grassroots NGO. For years they have worked with people making the perilous journey across the Balkan Route, providing them with the essential items they need to survive. But since the closure of the Balkan Route, the media attention needed to inform citizens of this crisis has turned hostile or disappeared.

In an attempt to change this, they decide to put on festivals for migrants and locals alike, to bring the communities and bring light to the plight of refugees.

Through their own journey, this film offers an exclusive look into the so called Balkan Route, through the people they meet along the way, from migrants making the journey to ordinary citizens and organisations caught up in this humanitarian crisis.

Dir: Petar Bojovic

Length: 68 mins