Audiences enjoyed the Horizons Festival 2021 at HOME between Saturday 12 – Friday 18 June 2021
On Saturday 12 June 2021, the Horizons Festival, the week-long event we curate with HOME every year to celebrate June’s Refugee Week, kicked off with Solidarity Social at HOME’s socially distanced outdoor space Homeground.
Here’s the film of the event.
One of the highlights of the festival was A Hostile Environment: Online Workshop/Discussion explored the proposed legislation for the asylum system on Wednesday 16 June.
People with lived experience of the asylum system from Refugee Action’s RAS Voices together with campaigner Julia Savage from Asylum Matters explained the impact of plans for the biggest overhaul of the asylum system in twenty years, which threatens the very right to seek asylum in the UK.
People were invited to take part in a campaign action to stand #TogetherWithRefugees at the end of the workshop having created signs inspired by the logo of this coalition campaign seeking to change the narrative about refugee protection in the UK.
More about the hostile legislation here
@AsylumMatters @VoiceRAS
Film, dance, visual arts & online events
Film
Lost Lands Film Festival Short Film Screening
Sunday 13 June 2021Pay What You Can
Directed by various directors
Age 15
Lost Lands Film festival that specialises in films created by refugees, asylum seekers, and migrant heritage people brought together a range of films from across the world exploring some of the most important issues in the most creative and unexpected ways. The screening was on a pay what you can basis in recognition of the destitution that faces many asylum seekers in the UK.
Kofia: A revolution through music + Q&A
Monday 14 June 2021
Directed by Louis Brehony
Age 15
Kofia: A Revolution Through Music is the inside story of Europe’s first Palestinian band, told through music, memories, and revolutionary encounters.
The screening was followed by a Q&A with Director, Louis Brehony, Professor Anandi Ramamurthy, Sheffield Hallam University, member of Cinema Palestino, and co-author of Struggling to Be Seen: The travails of Palestinian Cinema. The screening was ticketed on a pay what you can basis.
Home in a Foreign Land + Q&A
Tuesday 15 June 2021
Directed by Ivannia Villalobos
Age 15
Produced by Dr. Carlos Sandoval García, University of Costa Rica. Directed by Ivannia Villalobos, Distance State University (UNED). Presented by Armadillo Productions in association with the Horizons Festival.
‘Home in a Foreign Land’ is a documentary sharing the stories and dreams of people enduring forced emigration from Central America. It also tells the stories of those who have remained in their countries resisting and transforming their realities.
The Casa del Migrante de Saltillo, in Coahuila, in northern Mexico, is a meeting place for these stories, where different migrants come together looking for a safe place to rest and regain their strength before they attempt to cross into the US.
The documentary exposes the factors of expulsion forcing people to leave their countries, the increasingly violent and repressive controls to stop migrants, and the solidarity across borders. The screening was ticketed on a pay what you can basis.
Dance
North West Turkish Community Association Dance Group
Watch online from Saturday 12 – Friday 18 June, FREE
The North West Turkish Community Association Dance Group performed Turkish folk dances: Zeybek from the Aegean region; Horon from the Black Sea region; traditional Spoon folk dance from Ankara and authentic Turkish Romani and Uskup dance from the Balkans.
Visual Art
We Cannot Walk Alone
Saturday 12 June 2021 – Saturday 14 August 2021, FREE
This exhibition celebrated the festival’s theme – We Cannot Walk Alone – taken from 1960s US Civil Rights Leader Martin Luther King’s iconic ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
The workshops were led by artists Hasret Brown, Manya Alkhmri, and Khalida Alkhmri, and responded to the festival theme through a collaborative process between the artists and community members.
This exhibition was created through a series of visual arts workshops, delivered by Community Arts North West with North West Turkish Community Association and Rethink Rebuild Society.
@Rethink_Rebuild
Photos: Shirlaine Forrest.
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