London Recruits brings to light a hidden chapter in the global fight against South Africa's oppressive apartheid regime. Set during the 1960s and 1970s, the film chronicles the stories of young international volunteers - many of them British - who were secretly recruited by the African National Congress (ANC) to assist in their struggle for freedom. So begins a series of ever more daring undercover missions that sent shock waves through the regime. From November 1960 these young women and men embarked on journeys into Apartheid South Africa carrying suitcases with false bottoms, packed with leaflets urging resistance to the racist regime. These leaflet bombs, detonated in urban black areas, near black workplaces, or at railway stations during rush hour, would release thousands of leaflets into the air. Known as the "London Recruits," these ordinary individuals, students and activists, risked arrest, deportation, and even their lives to support the ANC's underground operations. A potent mix of never before seen archive footage action-packed drama and candid testimony from the recruits, eyewitnesses and secret police, London recruits is a compelling journey into the heart of apartheid South Africa.

50 years after the end of the dispute Miners' Strike: A Frontline Story is the account of 15 men and women and one life-changing year on the front line of the most divisive conflict of a generation: the 1984 miners' strike.
This documentary tells the story of this year-long conflict by combining archive footage with deeply personal testimony from striking and working miners, their families and the police - with many speaking for the first time.
The film includes a detailed description of the “Battle of Orgreave” now set to be the subject of a public inquiry into the behaviour of the South Yorkshire police on the day. A focus of the film is the waves of solidarity in the form of money and food extended to the miners and their families, and there will be an accompanying exhibition that records the work of The Bristol Miners Support Group.

The festival celebrates Black History Month with the British premier of Fanon, a drama focussing on a formative moment in the life of Franz Fanon, Martinique born radical psychiatrist, political activist, and revolutionary writer rolled into one. A formative influence on the US Black Panther Party, Fanon is remembered for his developing of radical treatments for patients, some born out of his understanding of the mental toll placed on those under colonial occupation, and his uncompromising support for armed struggle against it.This new drama records a key moment in his life when he was appointed to work in an “asylum” in French occupied Algeria in the mid 1950s. By day he introduces more humane treatments in the hospital in which he works, and by night supports the struggle of the Algerian National Liberation Front resistance. This moment was also critical in Fanon developing the ideas that were to form the basis of the Wretched of the Earth, his book which explored the role of violence in the struggle of the oppressed to free themselves from racist subjugation.

A powerful documentary, Sudan, Remember Us, directed by award-winning journalist and filmmaker Hind Meddeb, offers an urgent and moving portrayal of Sudan’s ongoing counter-revolutionary war, one largely ignored by mainstream media. In 2019 The long-time dictator Omar Al-Bashir had recently been overthrown after a 30-year regime marked by genocidal violence in Darfur. The film begins in the streets of Khartoum, where murals honour the martyrs of a revolution that began with hope and defiance. Through intimate interviews, protest footage, and stories of grassroots resistance, the film reveals the central role of women, youth, and ordinary people in the fight for freedom. At its core, the film captures more than political struggle—it showcases how poetry, music, and dance became revolutionary tools. It revisits the horrific massacre in June of that year; a calculated act to crush a popular uprising. Both a tribute to courage and a warning about the violence of repression, this documentary is a vital chronicle of resistance against dictatorship, poverty, and imperialist-backed regimes.

Censoring Palestine explores how the topic of the genocide in Gaza is being censored in the British mainstream and social media, and the ways terrorism law is being used to silence dissent, through dawn raids, arrest and detention. Interviewees include Ken Loach and Alexei Sayle and Roger Waters as well as journalists Jonathan Cook, and Peter Osborne. One notable section focuses on police treatment of the Bristol peace activists, the Filton 24, who are all awaiting trial having at various times broken into Elbit Systems arms manufacturer site to protest its supply of weapons to the Israeli military.

Two films use innovative ways to chart the experiences of the peoples in the under the shadow of the Israel military machine. The Diary of a Sky unfolds an atmospheric symphony of violence over Beirut, revealing the haunting fusion of incessant illegal Israeli military flights and the hum of generators during blackouts. This 45-minute video essay plunges viewers into a chilling chronicle of daily life transformed by the weaponisation of the air, where the terror of repeated incursions becomes a disconcertingly banal backdrop. An inventive and astonishing piece of filmmaking and commentary.
Return to al-Ma’in looks to the present moment and the connections between Israeli military’s conduct and appropriation of Palestinian land during and after 1948, and today in Gaza. Forensic Architecture (FA) and historian and Nakba survivor Salman Abu Sitta use 3D technology to reconstruct the occupation by Zionist militias of the Palestinian village of al-Ma on 14 May 1948, its subsequent demolition, and the Israeli settlement constructed on its ruins. The 75 year history of this village, and of Palestine from this moment is uncovered layer by layer in this astonishing visual portrayal.

Finally, our short film showcase is a change to explore the multiple ways in which artist around the world are thinking and expressing themselves in innovative ways. Sometimes funny, sometimes serious but always challenging and engaging.

Entry requirements: 18+ — Read more — Read less