We are so excited to announce the Refugee Week Film programme curated by Other Cinemas exploring themes of Our Home. Watch the films here: https://app.curate-it.co.uk/watch/66262efec9868d0f42f688ba

About the Refugee Week film programme:

This year, Counterpoints Arts and Other Cinemas – two organisations who work across intersections of racial justice, migration, and climate – have collaborated on a film programme taking place June 17th-23rd for a community-powered week! 

The programme, curated by Other Cinemas, consists of 6 shorts and 3 feature length films that explore the theme of “Our Home.” Home can be more than one place and finding it can be a journey, as it is for so many of us who have to leave our countries and rebuild our lives. Sometimes we can find home in a single person. Other times it’s in a whole community. And often, it’s in a single gesture of care and welcome. From the places we gather to share meals to our collective home, planet earth, the selected films invite us to celebrate the diverse meanings of our home(s). 

The majority of these short films and feature length films can be watched globally for free either at home or used for a community screening! No need to get rights or licensing, we have arranged these for the duration of Refugee Week. For details on how to do that scroll to the bottom.

This year’s films:

FEATURE LENGTH FILMS

Nezouh, dir. Soudade Kaadan (Running time 1h 43m)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wDHRR-qpjY

Where available to screen? UK ONLY
Category: Feature fiction
Synopsis: An unexpectedly hilarious, gentle and touching coming-of-age film set amidst the Syrian war in Damascus. It follows 14-year-old Zeina as she navigates falling in love with the boy next door in a war zone, all the while her mother and father face the dilemma of whether to stay or to leave and become refugees.
Audience? Certification: 12A
Themes? Syria, Damascus, War, Family.
Content Warning: War

Dhalinyaro (Youth), dir. Lula Ismaïl (Running time 1h 25m)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irCRrLqmNWk

Where available to screen? Globally
Category: Feature fiction
Synopsis: Asma, Hibo, and Deka are on the verge of high school graduation. As they navigate the beginnings of adulthood, they must decide between university in France or staying home in Djibouti.
Audience? Certification: 15+
Themes? Djibouti, France, University, Friendship, Girlhood , Coming of Age.
Content Warning: Profanity

Raging Grace, dir. Paris Zarcilla (Running time 1h 40m)

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D9TspRU9Q0

Where available to screen? UK only
Category: Feature fiction
In Raging Grace, an undocumented Filipina immigrant’s struggle to get legal status leads her to take a job as a caretaker for a terminal old man, ensnaring her and her daughter in a terrible secret that threatens to tear them apart.
Audience: Certification: 15+
Themes? Philippines, Horror, Psychological, Thriller, Family, Undocumented Immigration
Content Warning: (Mild) Violence & Gore, Profanity, Frightening & Intense Scenes

SHORTS

Motherland, dir. Ellen Evan (Running time 13m 14s)

Where available to screen? Globally
Category: Short Documentary
Motherland speaks to the experiences of the windrush generation and subsequent generations of Jamaicans navigating the landscape of the UK’s hostile environment.
Audience: Wide age group.
Themes? Windrush, Jamaica, Deportation, Hostile Environment

In Vitro, dir. Larissa Sansour and Søren Lind (Running time 27m 44s)

Where available to screen? Globally
Category: Short Fiction
With a cast led by Hiam Abbas (star of ‘Succession’ and ‘Ramy’), In Vitro stages a conversation between a mother and daughter, two generations of Palestinians considering what it may mean to rebuild a home one has never seen or has long lost.
Audience: Wide age group.
Themes? Palestine, Sci-Fi, Exile, Memory, Ecological Disaster

A Swing in Atayfiyah, dir. Bediah (Running time: 3m 24s)

Where available to screen? Globally
Category: Short Documentary
A Swing in Atayfiyah dwells in the memory of homes and friendships left behind in Iraq, the irrecoverable sense of belonging, and the dissonance of diaspora. 
Audience: Wide age group. 
Themes? Iraq, Migration, Diaspora 

Little Pyongyang, dir. Roxy Rezvany (Running time 24 mins)

Where available to screen? Globally
Category: Short Documentary
With exclusive access to one of the world’s largest community on North Korean defectors, this is a tale of one North Korean’s struggle to leave behind the homeland. Joong-wha Choi, a former soldier in the DPRK, lives today with his wife and kids in a sleepy London suburb.  Despite enjoying the new found comforts of his British life, and being emancipated from the pressures of the North Korean state, his dilemma lies in a desire to return to the land that betrayed him, but is undoubtedly his true home.
Audience: Wide age group
Themes? TBC

I Carry It With Me Everywhere, dir. Arwa Aburawa and Turab Shah (Running time 18m 47s)

Where available to screen? Globally
Category: Short Fiction
I Carry It With Me Everywhere draws a line across multiple temporalities and registers of immigrant life, uniting three different stories of migration in Northwest London through a shared condition of fragmentation.
Audience: Wide age group. 
Themes? Migration, Grief, Displacement, Punjab, Syria, Jamaica.
Content Warning: Death mention

Brave, dir. Wilmarc Val (Running time 25m)

Where available to screen? UK ONLY
Category: Short Documentary
Brave reverses that journey homeward to Haiti, following the filmmaker’s mother as she finally lays her mum to rest 20 years after her death, renewing her relationship to her family and the meaning of her roots.
Audience? Wide age group.
Themes? Haiti, France, Spiritual Rituals, Motherhood.
Content Warning: Death mention

INTERESTED IN WATCHING OR ORGANISING A SCREENING, WHAT’S NEXT?

Thank you for your interest in watching the Refugee Week Film programme (either at home or as a community screening). Other Cinemas have curated this special selection of short films and feature length films available to screen during Refugee Week 17th-23rd June 2024.

Individuals: How can I watch the films?

Organisers: How can I screen the films?

Do I need to pay for rights or licensing?
  • No, Other Cinemas have kindly negotiated and secured all the rights and licenses for the films so you can freely watch and screen these films at no charge.
  • Please note the link cannot be shared publicly until Refugee Week 17th-23rd as per our licensing agreements with film distributors.
  • You can access free promotional materials for the films here

FAQ

  • Can I download the films? Unfortunately no. We only have rights & license to watch the films on the online platform
  • Can I screen in a cinema? Yes, community screenings can happen in cinemas but they can’t charge for tickets as that is just a commercial screening of a film and that’s outside of our licensing agreements.
  • Can I screen in a community venue or library? Yes, but you cannot charge for tickets (optional donations are fine)
  • Can I play the films on a loop on a public screen? No, There can’t be any exhibition of the films in galleries or libraries or other public spaces as this is outside of the license agreement. This would be an exhibition agreement and is often agreed on the number of days the film will be playing. We don’t have this – we only have community screening (defined as non-profit) as well as personal, online viewings. However we can arrange special library agreement for I Carry It With Me Everywhere, dir. Arwa Aburawa and Turab Shah (Running time 18m 47s)

Top tips for organising your film event?

  1. Organise your film event during 17th-23rd June 2024, you can find resources to help you here.
  2. Once you are ready you can submit it to the Refugee Week calendar 
  3. Access promotional materials including images of the films here.
  4. Promote your event using Refugee Week hashtags #RefugeeWeek #SimpleActs #OurHome.
  5. Share your film highlights & reflections on social media!

Thank you for your support! We can’t wait to hear all about your movie experiences.

About Other Cinemas
This programme is being curated by Other Cinemas, a project established to support more equitable ways of making and sharing films for Black and non-white communities. As well as curation, Other Cinemas also run their own free community screenings and a free year-long film school in Brent, UK.
Website: www.othercinemas.co.uk/ Social Media: /www.instagram.com/othercinemas/