Join us for a short film screening and filmmaker Q&A at the Odeon in Peterborough!
In partnership with the Independent Cinema Office, BFI NETWORK South East is hosting a screening and filmmaker Q&A of Uncommon Voices: Exploring Class in New British Cinema, a touring programme of working class short films. Alongside Uncommon Voices, we’re delighted to include within the programme BFI NETWORK short film Cuppa Chai from Cambridgeshire-based filmmaker Amit Kaur.
Some of the filmmakers will be in attendance after the screening to talk about their films as part of a panel discussion and audience Q&A, where they’ll share the process of making the films, their journey to funding, and how to make connections in the film industry. The screening will start at 6pm and the Q&A will conclude at 8pm.
If you’re part of the filmmaking community in or around Peterborough, come along to hear from established filmmakers, as well as meet like-minded creatives near you. Read more about the film programme and our guest speakers below!
If you’re aged 25 or under, you can grab a discounted ticket for only £3.
What is Uncommon Voices?
We’ve all got an image that pops into our head when we think about what a ‘working class film’ might look like, and for most of us, it’s a vision firmly drawn from the past. This selection of recent short films starts a conversation about how working class filmmakers are capturing working class experience in the Britain of today, spanning documentaries, flights of fancy and realism.
What these films uncover are working class experiences that are rich in creativity, complications, uncertainties and contradictions: the very things that make a film worth watching. This programme of shorts, selected by filmmaker and curator Nia Childs, is for anyone who wants to explore working class Britain as it is and imagines itself to be, in the hope of discovering something new.
Programme notes
Nocturnal
Dir: Ashmy Johnson | UK | 2025 | 6 mins
Ray is an off-licence worker, working day and night to keep his family afloat. His daily phone calls back home offer him a lifeline amongst the hustle and bustle of a city he is still getting used to. As his days and nights start to merge into one, Ray is forced to confront the choices he has made that have landed him in this country.
Terence
Dir: Edem Kelman | UK | 2024 | 15 mins
Terence, a security officer, works the night shift outside a London shopping centre. To the strangers passing by, he is a friendly face, offering directions or a helping hand with shopping bags. To his African community, he is known for his special gift, one he uses to heal those in need.
Never Mind Walnut Street
Dir: Marta Dyczkowska | UK | 2023 | 13 mins
Never Mind Walnut Street is the intimate story of Marta Dyczkowska’s life and loss, set against the backdrop of the sweeping gentrification of Belfast. The film pays tribute to the city that once shaped Marta’s life, as the very fabric of her landscape changes around her, mirroring her own emotional journey of loss and change.
Ffasiwn, The Film
Dir: Charlotte James, Clementine Schneidermann | UK | 2019 | 3 mins
From the pebbledash-coated suburbia of South Wales emerges the unique creative expression of the local young people. Donned in hand crafted costumes referencing high fashion, they parade from the estate to Blaenavon mountain, revealing an intimate view of their world.
Three Bull-Mastiffs in a Corner Kitchen
Dir: Paul Chambers | UK | 2024 | 13 mins
A man looks back on his younger years and relives some of the moments that led him into his troubles with addiction in later life, he looks back with a mature wisdom that flows as poetry.
Journey Mercies
Dir: Tomisin Adepeju | UK | 2024 | 15 mins
It’s Bade’s last day at work; he’s finally ready to go home.
BFI NETWORK Short:
Cuppa Chai
Dir: Amit Kaur | UK | 2023 | 10 mins
After the death of her Nani Ji, eighteen-year-old Mira arrives back in her hometown and is confronted by the fact that she knows very little about the woman who passed away. She must learn more about her grandmother’s life the only way she knows how, through the perfect cup of tea and halwa.
Speakers
Jay Gearing
Facilitator
Jay Gearing is a filmmaker and artist based in Cambridgeshire. Socially engaged practice is at the heart of Jay’s artistic work. Highly motivated by the power and potential of film to be representative, to provoke and to highlight multiple issues impacting on people and the world around them. Jay’s filmmaking is largely collaborative, he works closely with partners throughout the creative process. Working with clients to realise their vision from concept to final product. Alongside his filming, directorial and editing work Jay is an experienced interviewer and believes strongly that it is people and their experiences and beliefs that should be central to the film work he produces. Jay founded Red7 Productions, an independent production company based in Peterborough, in 2017. Maintaining a focus on socially responsible practice and engaging with a wide range of partners and collaborators. Red7productions has created numerous films across different genres, these works range from art films, screendance, research films, documentaries and commercial work.
Ashmy Johnson
Filmmaker
Ashmy is a freelance Director and Photographer based in London. Her body of work currently spans from short films, music videos and photography. Her ongoing photography series “The Southall Portraits” has been exhibited at FuseBox Kingston. Often drawing inspiration from personal stories, her work aims to highlight the nuances of identity and community within the South Asian diaspora.
Amit Kaur
Filmmaker
Amit Kaur is the director of the BFI-funded short 'Cuppa Chai' which screened at festivals like Oberhausen, Cleveland, Sunrise and Hebden Bridge to name a few. Amit is currently developing her debut feature 'CROWN' in the CINEKID Script Lab. She is an alumna of the FILMONOMICS Feature programme (UK) along with RICKSHAW Film Foundation (US). She began her career assisting on the Oscar-shortlisted short 'The Road Home' and worked as Post Coordinator with Mira Nair and Lydia Pilcher for BBC's 'A Suitable Boy.'