Director: Sonita Gale | Countries of production: United Kingdom | Year: 2022 | Length: 97 min

Language: English | Certificate: 12A Cert

Film information:

Hostile is a BAFTA and BIFA Longlisted feature-length documentary written, produced and

directed by Sonita Gale, focusing on the UK’s complicated relationship with its migrant

communities. 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,

including No Recourse to Public Funds which is forcing people into destitution.

The film explores how the lives of international students, members of the Windrush generation

and ‘Highly Skilled Migrants’ have been affected. The film features music from award-winning

musicians Nitin Sawhney and spoken word from George the Poet. Nitin Sawhney also served

as an Executive Producer.

Running time: 97 minutes

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director Sonita Gale.

About the Director:

Sonita Gale is a British Asian writer, producer and director. Elevating the stories of migrants and

marginalised communities is at the forefront of her work.

Sonita’s debut feature documentary as director, HOSTILE, is an award-winning and BAFTA and

BIFA-longlisted film exposing the ‘hostile environment’ for migrants in the UK. Hostile has

screened across the country at Picturehouse and independent cinemas, and has been selected

for a number of international film festivals. In 2021, the film debuted at Raindance Film Festival.

Since then, Hostile was a finalist in the 2022 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival (in the

‘Supreme Award’ and ‘Best Director – International’ categories) and was nominated for Best

Documentary Feature at the 2022 British Urban Film Festival, and. The film won Best

Documentary Feature at the 2021 South London Film Festival, at Filmocracy Fest 2022 and the

Roxbury International Film Festival 2022.