Conversations About Cinema: Impact of Conflict
Opening up issues, debates and discussion through film.
Conversations About Cinema was inspired by a partnership with Bristol University in 2014, which took the shape of an introduction in the cinema followed by an informal discussion in Watershed's Café/Bar. This opened up discussions on subjects as varied as the historical roots of the slave trade (12 Years a Slave), the situation in the Middle-East (Omar), Dostoyevsky and Cinema (The Double), and it demonstrated an appetite from audiences to engage in meaningful conversation.
In Jan 2015 we widened the conversations in partnership with other independent cinemas (Chapter in Cardiff and Queen's Film Theatre in Belfast), online and through social media, to connect with audiences across the UK.
We focused on a specific theme: how film and filmmakers address the impact of conflict. Over six months we screened films such as Testament of Youth, Selma, The Look of Silence, and Timbuktu, we hosted events with academics and film industry professionals, and produced editorial.
Conversations About Cinema: Impact of Conflict is a BFI Film Audience Network initiative led by Watershed with QFT and Chapter Arts. Supported by the BFI's Programme Development Funds from the National Lottery.
Ended in June 2015