Echoes of a Distant Home - Stories of Longing and Identity

In this screening programme, we bring together filmmakers who explore the feeling of identity in the transience created by migration and exile that leaves us balancing the home we lost and the home we created.

Featuring:

Lost In Time (Dir. Maryam Hassanein)
A docu-fiction follows 2 young Egyptian women’s journeys exploring past memories from the 60s-80s through archival home videos, audio recordings, and recreation of movie scenes.

Liminal (Dir. Reem Maghrib)
Inspired by an oral history collection that includes interviews with Syrians living in different cities in western Asia and western Europe, Liminal is a short animated film that reflects on the impact of conflict and migration on Syrian identity.

Bladi | My Country (Dir. Leila Gamaz)
Drawing on family lived experience of destitution and sleeping on the underground in 80s Paris, Bladi - My Country uses the train as a vehicle to explore how displacement feels as an embodied experience across generations. Personal and public archives are pieced together, blurring linear timeframes that speak to the haziness of memory and ongoing colonial subjugation of people we see around the world today.

In Three Layers of Darkness (Dir. Houcem Slouli)
The film follows Ghassen, a young Tunisian man, in his quest to obtain a visa, addressing the themes of immigration and perseverance against bureaucratic injustice for a fundamental right: freely moving in this world.

Bye Bye Tiberias (Dir. Lina Soualem)
Set between past and present, Bye Bye Tiberias pieces together images of today, family footage from the nineties and historical archives to portray four generations of daring Palestinian women who keep their story and legacy alive through the strength of their bonds, despite exile, dispossession and heartbreak.

I’m Migrant Film Festival is a month-long programme of screenings and events bringing together established filmmakers from across the SWANA Region alongside emerging filmmakers from the Arab World and platforming the most promising new talent from young directors.

Cherien Dabis’ powerful, sprawling drama depicts three generations’ experience of occupied Palestine.

In cinemas 6th February.

TICKETS 🎟️

A special screening of Bye Bye Tiberias, followed by a discussion with Hekayyatna. This event is a part of Palestine Cinema Days 2025.

30 years ago, Palestinian actress Hiam Abbass left her native village Deir Hanna in Galilee to follow her acting dream in France. Camera in hand, her daughter Lina questions her mother’s bold choices and the way the women in her family – who she has left behind – have influenced her life. How do those who live on the screen of our memories define who we are today?

TICKETS 🎟️

A community screening for climate action of Can I Get a Witness? starring the phenomenal Sandra Oh, written & directed by Ann Marie Fleming.

Come for an eco-drama that reimagines life in a post-climate world and the price of living in true harmony with the planet and stay for a climate positive themed activity TBA.

13:45: Doors open

14:00: Intro, film

14:05: Film starts

16:00: Film ends, Q&A starts

16:30: Q&A ends, audience activities (TBC)

17:30: Event ends

Hosted by ESEA Creatives Scotland with MilkTea.

Can I Get A Witness? is distributed by T A P E in the UK and playing as part of MilkTea’s Supersize, a project supported by the BFI with funding from the National Lottery.

TICKETS 🎟️

A community screening for climate action of Can I Get a Witness? starring the phenomenal Sandra Oh, written & directed by Ann Marie Fleming.

Come for an eco-drama that reimagines life in a post-climate world and the price of living in true harmony with the planet.

13:45: Doors open

14:00: Intro, film

14:05: Film starts

16:00: Film ends, Q&A starts

16:30: Q&A ends, audience activities (TBC)

17:30: Event ends

Can I Get A Witness? is distributed by T A P E in the UK and playing as part of MilkTea’s Supersize, a project supported by the BFI with funding from the National Lottery.

TICKETS 🎟️

Milk Tea presents CAN I GET A WITNESS? starring the phenomenal Sandra Oh, written & directed by Ann Marie Fleming.

Come for an eco-drama that reimagines life in a post-climate world and the price of living in true harmony with the planet and stay for a sustainability workshop.

• 12:45: Doors open

• 13:00: Intro, film start

• 15:00: Sustainability workshop with Hathaikun Kongaunruan (object swap & letter writing)

• 16:00: Event ends.

** Attendees will be required to bring one unwanted item to exchange as part of the sustainability workshop **

Hosted by Voice ESEA with MilkTea.

Can I Get A Witness? is distributed by T A P E in the UK and playing as part of MilkTea’s Supersize, a project supported by the BFI with funding from the National Lottery.

TICKETS 🎟️

A community screening for climate action of Can I Get a Witness?

We’re proud to present CAN I GET A WITNESS? starring the phenomenal Sandra Oh, written & directed by Ann Marie Fleming.

Join MilkTea for an eco-drama that reimagines life in a post-climate world and the price of living in true harmony with the planet.

• 20:00: Doors open

• 20:05: Intro

• 20:10: Film starts

• 22:00: Film ends

Hosted by Move Midlands with MilkTea.

Can I Get A Witness? is distributed by T A P E in the UK and playing as part of MilkTea’s Supersize, a project supported by the BFI with funding from the National Lottery.

🎟️ Tickets

In the near-future, climate change is mitigated, global poverty is eradicated, and all species on the planet can live in relative peace and equality. The world has rejected consumption and technology, and recalibrated to sustainable societies with smaller carbon footprints. People live happy, modest lives. This is made possible because the World came to an Agreement and everyone is committed to a new global expiry date - human life will end at age 50. Or are they?

Followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming

🎟️ Tickets

In the near-future, climate change is mitigated, global poverty is eradicated, and all species on the planet can live in relative peace and equality. The world has rejected consumption and technology, and recalibrated to sustainable societies with smaller carbon footprints. People live happy, modest lives. This is made possible because the World came to an Agreement and everyone is committed to a new global expiry date - human life will end at age 50. Or are they?

Followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Ann Marie Fleming

🎟️ TICKETS

 The Udo Collection and Hekayyatna present:

THIS IS FOR US Festival: Build. Organise. Dismantle.

Taking inspiration from Fadi Quran’s stirring call to action "like thunder on a moonless night", we gather to build ideas, organise ourselves and dismantle the system.
 
Film Night
Tues 9 September 7-930pm

Featuring T A P E Shorts - The Medallion, Neo Nahda & Muna

MilkTea are partnering with Voice ESEA for a special East and Southeast Asian Heritage Month community screening of In the Nguyen Kitchen.

In the Nguyễn Kitchen is a French musical drama about aspiring musical theatre star Yvonne whose faltering career sends her back home to her disapproving mother’s suburban restaurant. The kitchen becomes a stage for the reconciliation of tradition and ambition, mother and daughter in this delightful and moving exploration of identity and family.

This ESEAHM screening comes with special treats - come along to find out!

Run of Show:

• 6:45PM: Doors open

• 7:15PM: Intro, film starts

🎟️ TICKETS

MilkTea are proud to be partnering with Move Midlands for a special East and Southeast Asian Heritage Month community screening of In the Nguyen Kitchen.

In the Nguyễn Kitchen is a French musical drama about aspiring musical theatre star Yvonne whose faltering career sends her back home to her disapproving mother’s suburban restaurant. The kitchen becomes a stage for the reconciliation of tradition and ambition, mother and daughter in this delightful and moving exploration of identity and family.

This ESEAHM screening comes with special treats - join us to find out what!

Run of Show:

• 8PM: Doors open

• 8:10PM: Screening starts

🎟️ TICKETS

MilkTea are partnering with ESEA Creatives Scotland for a special East and Southeast Asian Heritage Month community screening of In the Nguyen Kitchen.

In the Nguyễn Kitchen is a French musical drama about aspiring musical theatre star Yvonne whose faltering career sends her back home to her disapproving mother’s suburban restaurant. The kitchen becomes a stage for the reconciliation of tradition and ambition, mother and daughter in this delightful and moving exploration of identity and family.

This ESEAHM screening comes with special treats - come along to find out what!

Run of Show:

• 6:00PM: Doors open

• 6:10PM: Intro, film starts

🎟️ TICKETS

Yvonne Nguyen's big dreams of musical theatre stardom clash with her mum's traditional expectations . When Yvonne moves back home, they're like strangers under the same roof - until they bond in their Vietnamese restaurant kitchen over steaming bowls and simmering tensions.

As Yvonne lands a chance to audition for a major production, she must choose between chasing fame and staying true to herself. Witness this heartwarming, hilarious journey of self-discovery, served with a side of egg rolls and show tunes! Stéphane Ly-Cuong directs this first-time feature film that will leave you humming along and hungry for more.

Get ready to be served a plate of love, laughter & Vietnamese cuisine! Yvonne's chasing her musical theatre dreams, but her mum has other plans. When they're forced under the same roof, their bond grows stronger in the kitchen. Will she follow her heart or take center stage? Discover this bitter-sweet musical comedy that blends culture, food and family drama. Directed by Stéphane Ly-Cuong.

The screening on 30 August at 3.25pm at Ciné Lumière will be followed by a Q&A with director Stéphane Ly-Cuong and actor Clotilde Chevalier who plays Yvonne.

🎟️ TICKETS

MilkTea are proud to be hosting the UK Premiere of In the Nguyen Kitchen, in collaboration with T A P E.

In the Nguyễn Kitchen is a French musical drama about aspiring musical theatre star Yvonne whose faltering career sends her back home to her disapproving mother’s suburban restaurant. The kitchen becomes a stage for the reconciliation of tradition and ambition, mother and daughter in this delightful and moving exploration of identity and family.

After the screening, join us for a very special Q&A with the director, Stephane Ly-Cuong.

Run of Show:

• 6pm: doors

• 6.20pm: film starts

• 8pm: End of film, start of Q&A

• 8.30pm: End of event

🎟️ TICKETS

🎟️ Tickets

Director and writer Madeleine Hunt Ehrlich will be the Barbican to discuss her debut feature, an immersive exploration of the work of the remarkable Martinican writer and activist Suzanne Césaire. Hosted by Matthew Barrington.

Shot on 16mm and bathed in the lush greenery of tropical Martinique, The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire is a beguiling snapshot of the life Suzanne Cesaire, a feminist, anti-colonialist, pioneer of Afro-Caribbean surrealism, and co-founder of influential cultural journal Tropiques.

With her accomplishments long overshadowed by her prominent husband, Aime Césaire, and much of Suzanne’s work burned by her herself, Hunt-Ehrlich seeks to make a film about “an artist who didn’t want to be remembered.”

Described by Sight and Sound as an “anti-biopic”, the film is presented through the lens of an actress (Zita Hanrot) who is preparing to play Suzanne in the biopic film of her life. We see fragments of Suzanne’s life as a school teacher, an organiser, and the mother of six children.

🎟️ Tickets

6PM, 18 July screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Madeleine Hunt-Ehrlich and actor Zita Hanrot.

This fascinating film examines the life and work of Caribbean surrealist Suzanne Césaire, whose life was overshadowed by that of her husband, politician and writer Aimé Césaire.

Inspired by the structures of Césaire’s own writing, which often took a colonial convention and unravelled it, and with glimpses of the surrealist scene (André Breton), the film deconstructs the narrative period biopic genre, moving between a conventional cinema and deconstructed experimental scenes. The Ballad of Suzanne Césaire plants us firmly in the darkness and desire of its subject matter while acknowledging the impossibility of resuscitating a legacy partially lost to time.

Selly Oak Palestine Solidarity Film Night - Sunday 13th July at 7PM

Screening - Sudan, Remember Us

Followed by special guest speakers Hind Meddeb, Sudan, Remember Us writer and director (joining online) and Enaam Mahmoud from the Birmingham Sudanese Community (in-person)

Tickets cost £5.00 with all proceeds going to charity Waging Peace.

🎟️ Tickets

Tickets

Join PopChange Film Club for the next edition of their monthly programme featuring filmmakers from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

Following Shajane, Maha, Muzamil, and Khattab: four young Sudanese activists in their twenties, these politically active and artistically creative youth are but a few of a generation fighting for freedom with their words, poems, and chants. Buoyed by courage, sheer will and collective hope, these Sudanese youth risked everything to overthrow the country’s military regime through impassioned revolution.

Spanning the years from the Sudanese revolution of 2019, to the outbreak of the grievous civil war in 2023, this immensely moving documentary captures a collective portrait of Sudanese youth, dreaming of a new, democratic Sudan. Hind Meddeb’s documentary is a testament to the resistance and revolutionary spirit of Sudan, and in her words: ‘a cinematic chorus’.

In a time when Sudan has faced two years of a violent, counter-revolutionary war, famine, and, millions of people forced into exile, along with the indifference of the rest of the world, this film is a portrait of a nation and a people who will continue to persist and insist on a bright and just future.

After the screening there will also be a Q&A with director, Hind Meddeb.

Tickets

Following Shajane, Maha, Muzamil, and Khattab: four young Sudanese activists in their twenties, these politically active and artistically creative youth are but a few of a generation fighting for freedom with their words, poems, and chants. Buoyed by courage, sheer will and collective hope, these Sudanese youth risked everything to overthrow the country’s military regime through impassioned revolution.

Spanning the years from the Sudanese revolution of 2019, to the outbreak of the grievous civil war in 2023, this immensely moving documentary captures a collective portrait of Sudanese youth, dreaming of a new, democratic Sudan. Hind Meddeb’s documentary is a testament to the resistance and revolutionary spirit of Sudan, and in her words: ‘a cinematic chorus’.

In a time when Sudan has faced two years of a violent, counter-revolutionary war, famine, and, millions of people forced into exile, along with the indifference of the rest of the world, this film is a portrait of a nation and a people who will continue to persist and insist on a bright and just future.

After the screening there will also be a Q&A with director, Hind Meddeb.

Tickets

Following Shajane, Maha, Muzamil, and Khattab: four young Sudanese activists in their twenties, these politically active and artistically creative youth are but a few of a generation fighting for freedom with their words, poems, and chants. Buoyed by courage, sheer will and collective hope, these Sudanese youth risked everything to overthrow the country’s military regime through impassioned revolution.

Spanning the years from the Sudanese revolution of 2019, to the outbreak of the grievous civil war in 2023, this immensely moving documentary captures a collective portrait of Sudanese youth, dreaming of a new, democratic Sudan. Hind Meddeb’s documentary is a testament to the resistance and revolutionary spirit of Sudan, and in her words: ‘a cinematic chorus’.

In a time when Sudan has faced two years of a violent, counter-revolutionary war, famine, and, millions of people forced into exile, along with the indifference of the rest of the world, this film is a portrait of a nation and a people who will continue to persist and insist on a bright and just future.

Tickets

Following Shajane, Maha, Muzamil, and Khattab: four young Sudanese activists in their twenties, these politically active and artistically creative youth are but a few of a generation fighting for freedom with their words, poems, and chants. Buoyed by courage, sheer will and collective hope, these Sudanese youth risked everything to overthrow the country’s military regime through impassioned revolution.

Spanning the years from the Sudanese revolution of 2019, to the outbreak of the grievous civil war in 2023, this immensely moving documentary captures a collective portrait of Sudanese youth, dreaming of a new, democratic Sudan. Hind Meddeb’s documentary is a testament to the resistance and revolutionary spirit of Sudan, and in her words: ‘a cinematic chorus’.

In a time when Sudan has faced two years of a violent, counter-revolutionary war, famine, and, millions of people forced into exile, along with the indifference of the rest of the world, this film is a portrait of a nation and a people who will continue to persist and insist on a bright and just future.

The film will be screened with descriptive subtitles.

Tickets

Following Shajane, Maha, Muzamil, and Khattab: four young Sudanese activists in their twenties, these politically active and artistically creative youth are but a few of a generation fighting for freedom with their words, poems, and chants. Buoyed by courage, sheer will and collective hope, these Sudanese youth risked everything to overthrow the country’s military regime through impassioned revolution.

Spanning the years from the Sudanese revolution of 2019, to the outbreak of the grievous civil war in 2023, this immensely moving documentary captures a collective portrait of Sudanese youth, dreaming of a new, democratic Sudan. Hind Meddeb’s documentary is a testament to the resistance and revolutionary spirit of Sudan, and in her words: ‘a cinematic chorus’.

In a time when Sudan has faced two years of a violent, counter-revolutionary war, famine, and, millions of people forced into exile, along with the indifference of the rest of the world, this film is a portrait of a nation and a people who will continue to persist and insist on a bright and just future.

After the screening there will also be a Q&A with director, Hind Meddeb.