Watershed

Independent cinema and events space on Bristol?s harbourside.


Watershed is an innovative events space in central Bristol, bringing together film, discussion and digital arts. The cinema's programme includes international film festivals and screenings of productions by talented local filmmakers. The Pervasive Media studio on the first floor is a hub for high tech entrepreneurs and inventors.

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Our recent recommendations for Watershed

Sell out warning! Mind-bending dystopian donkey revolution turned co-operative anarchistic multi-player video game performance/experience. Turning an asses-eye view to post-industrial society in 7 hours of delirious and enlightening entertainment essential for all gamers, technophobes, politicos and homosapiens. Asses.masses is a custom-made video game about labour, technophobia and sharing the load of revolution

Free entry! Is this the dawn of bionic bardism!? Essential Lyra Fest investigation into the interplay between creative writing and technology, and the possibilities and pitfalls of their co-existence. Featuring Q&A with industry experts, plus interactive poetry performances pairing artists with - and against - the AI for composition mastery. A panel discussion featuring poets and technology experts from Lyra’s new poetry/AI project, Page Against the Machine.

Stand-out evening from the immense Lyra Fest, showcasing exceptional Ghanaian voices in the world of spoken word. Performances by the multi-award-winning Gabriel Awuah Mainoo, slam champion Alhassan Mohamed, and rising writers Nice Cailie Ineza and Ewurama Nhyira Essel, celebrating West African history, identity and culture. An evening of performances from poets all the way from Ghana! Including multiple award-winning poet Gabriel Awuah Mainoo.

Film screening, poetry readings and Q&A centred around the BBC’s landmark 80s Arena documentary. Caribbean Nights was the first time the UK daytime TV literati woke up and seriously recognised the abundance of artistry from Linton Kwesi Johnson to Derek Walcott and Fred D’Aguiar. It’s indispensable, historical viewing with lessons in diversity that are more relevant today than ever. A film screening and panel presented by Your Local Arena & Speaking Volumes, with Anthony Joseph, Rishi Dastidar, Louisa Adjoa Parker.

Heart-wrenching historical drama rooted in one girl’s lost childhood during the 1948 Nabka - the military-enforced displacement of native Palestinians necessary for the birth of the modern Israeli state. Intimate, shocking and pertinent cinema followed by a panel discussion with Lowkey and director Darin J. Sallam. A screening of the hit film Farha, the film that Israeli government officials tried to cancel. With a panel discussion including Lowkey.