Film | 25 Nov; 6:20pm | The Lexi Cinema
Cléo loves her nanny Gloria more than anyone. But when Gloria suddenly has to return home to Cape Verde to look after her own children, Gloria invites the heartbroken Cléo to visit her and the two have to make the most of their last summer together.
A film that works both as a simple heartfelt drama and as a clear allegory (and critique) of colonialism, Ama Gloria is a beautifully drawn study of a young girl on a steep learning curve about the broader contexts of her, and other people’s, worlds.
Dir: Marie Amachoukeli-Barsacq | Length: 1h 23m
*Preview screening*
Film + Q&A | 25 Nov; 6:30pm | Genesis Cinema
Athens-based Palestinian refugees Chatila and Reda are trying to save what little money they can to purchase passports so they can move to Germany, only for Chatila to become drawn into a high-risk smuggling plot after Reda spends all their money on heroin.
At once a parable of desperation and social realist thriller, this film explores the lengths people are pushed to within the context of the failing and inhumane Greek asylum system.
Followed by Q&A with director Mahdi Fleifel
Dir: Mahdi Fleifel | Length: 1h 45m
Film + Q&A | 25 Nov; 6:30pm | SOAS, Khalili Lecture Theatre
Lia, a retired teacher living in a small town in Georgia, has promised to find her long-lost niece, Tekla, after she was forced to leave her family home when she came out as a trans woman. Her search takes her to Istanbul where she meets Evrim, a lawyer fighting for trans rights, and Tekla starts to feel closer than ever.
Director Levan Akin centres the vital spirit of Istanbul’s trans community in this poignant story of unlikely connection.
Dir: Levan Akin | Length: 1h 46 min