A hard-hitting and thought-provoking film festival returns to Coventry and Birmingham later this month.
Screening Rights Film Festival, which is in its eighth year after being established by festival director Dr Michele Aaron in 2015, will feature seven films from October 27 through to October 30.
The films will be screened at the Midlands Arts Centre, in Birmingham, and the Warwick Arts Centre at the University of Warwick, in Coventry, and will also include conversations and debate with panellists including figures involved with the making of the films.
Screening Rights forms part of Resonate, a year-long programme of inspiring and interactive events that brings to life the work of the University of Warwick and its staff for people right across the region.
The festival begins with Myanmar Diaries at the Midlands Arts Centre on Thursday, October 27 and is followed by Eternal Spring at Warwick Arts Centre on Friday, October 28.
Unloved, Huronia’s Forgotten Children, Silence Heard Loud and Nico will be screened at Warwick Arts Centre on Saturday, October 29, with the festival closing on Sunday, October 30, with Baghdad in My Shadow and Eat Your Catfish at Midlands Arts Centre. Eat Your Catfish will be screened at Warwick Arts Centre at the same time.
Dr Aaron, Professor of Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick, said: “Screening Rights was established to explore and harness the potential of film to affect change in individuals and even politically.
“It’s a chance to see important films that deal with powerful human issues and also to then hear from the film-makers and other experts on these issues, and talk about what has just been seen on the screen.
“The festival and its curation are grounded in academic research and we choose films based on their ethics in their ability to move people –they have to move people beyond the time that they are inside the cinema.
“You see Hollywood films that look to tackle important issues but very often we are only moved to pity those we see on screen and the films we choose for Screening Rights have to go beyond that.
“We ask the question of whether films can promote or propagate the truth of human experience or actually serve to mask or manipulate it.”
Screening Rights is supported by the University of Warwick and its Institute of Engagement and the BFI's Midlands Film Hub.
For more information or to book tickets go to http://screeningrights.com
Find out more about the wider Resonate programme at www.resonatefestival.co.uk
Pictured: Sara Fazilat stars in Nico (2021), directed by Eline Gehring