The Grade II listed Tyneside Cinema
When: 16th – 19th March 2017
Where: Tyneside Cinema, 10 – 12 Pilgrim Street, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 6QG
£: Ticket prices vary – special discounts are available from the box office
What is it?
Tyneside Cinema will be turning 80 years old in 2017 and to celebrate the landmark achievement, the venue will be hosting a series of cultural events. The first of these is set to explore human migration and the refugee crisis through the lens of climate change, during a diverse series of feature films, documentaries, artworks, talks and workshops.
Tyneside Cinema was originally built to bring local, national and international news to the people of Newcastle, the cinema is now reflecting on its status as a cultural ‘elder’, using its position as a place where people can explore other cultures through film, to engage audiences with the most pressing societal issues that we see ourselves confronted with.
Gimme Shelter: Climate Change, Migration and the Refugee Crisis will see filmmakers, joined by leading experts, discuss the connection between climate change, natural disasters and migration. The programme is presented in partnership with Climate Outreach and The Climate and Migration Coalition, and with support from Newcastle University Institute for Creative Arts Practice and Northumbrian Water.
It is predicted that climate change will have a big impact on human migration in the next 50 years, with millions set to be displaced by shoreline erosion, coastal flooding, intensifying drought and further agricultural disruption.
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Film still by Jess Pinkham)
Tyneside Cinema aims to inform and spark discussion through a curated programme focusing on the urgency of action on climate change, as well as its very real connection to the current refugee crisis. Gimme Shelter will include talks from guest speakers including Lord David Puttnam, director George Kurian, and Dr Susan Crate.
Lord David Puttnam will lead proceedings at the launch on Thursday 16th March, drawing on his thirty years as an independent producer of award-winning films, such as The Killing Fields, Chariots of Fire and Bugsy Malone, and his work in public policy relating to education, the environment, and the creative and communications industries.
Alongside a schedule of films including The Anthropologist, A Syrian Love Story, The Crossing and the regional premiere of The Age of Consequences, visual artist Lucy Wood will unveil the new chapter of her ongoing project Distant Neighbours.
Events will include:
Distant Neighbours Exhibition by Lucy Wood (17th March – 18th May, daily 11am – 5pm)
Through Distant Neighbours Lucy Wood ultimately wants to create a visual global book spanning decades, which will amount to an archive and testimony to human movement available to future generations, at the centre of this work is people’s story telling.
Tyneside Cinema have commissioned Wood to make a new instalment in the Distant Neighbours series specifically for Gimme Shelter, reflecting in particular on the link between climate change and immigration and the need for empathy.
Lucy Wood in Conversation (Thursday 16th March, 5.30pm – 6.30pm)
For the last ten years, Lucy Wood has been making work based on migration and borders, in installation, sculptural and filmic form. Join Wood as the discusses the films made in her ongoing series ‘Distant neighbours’ have been based on narratives of peoples’ experience of borders and migrating through these spaces.
Climate change and Syria (Friday 17th March, 3.30pm – 4pm)
In 2015 the media exploded with coverage linking climate change to the crisis in Syria. This lecture looks behind those headlines to explore the complex links between climate change, drought and the start of the conflict.
Displacement, climate change and disasters (Saturday 18th March, 12pm – 12.30pm)
This talk explores several natural disasters and the stories of the people who were displaced by them. It also looks at the evidence linking climate change and future patterns of disasters.
Understanding climate change and migration (Saturday 18th March, 3pm – 5pm)
This workshop explores how climate change will influence patterns of migration and the places and people that will be affected. Crucially, the session also looks at how we should respond to this emerging situation.
Moving Stories: the voices of people who move due to climate change (Sunday 19th March, 3.45pm – 4.45pm)
This workshop explores the experiences of people who have been forced to move by the impacts of climate change. The testimonies have been collected from across the world and demonstrate the diversity of people’s experiences.
The Age Of Consequences (80m) 2016 with Director Q&A (Thursday 16th March, 6.30pm – 8.30pm)
The Age Of Consequences investigates the impacts of climate change, resource scarcity, migration, and conflict through the lens of US national security and global stability. Whether a long-term vulnerability or sudden shock, the film unpacks how water and food shortages, extreme weather, drought, and sea-level rise function as accelerants of instability and catalysts for conflict. Left unchecked, these threats and risks will continue to grow in scale and frequency, with grave implications for peace and security in the 21st century.
The Anthropologist (78 mins) 2015 + introduction from Alex Randall, Climate Outreach (Friday 17th March, 1pm – 3.30pm)
At the core of The Anthropologist are the parallel stories of two women: Margaret Mead, who popularised cultural anthropology in America; and Susie Crate, an environmental anthropologist currently studying the impact of climate change.
A Syrian Love Story (12A) (76m) 2015 + Q&A with director Sean McAllister (Friday 17th March, 5.45pm – 7.50pm)
Amer, 45, met Raghda, 40, in a Syrian prison cell 15 years ago. He first saw her bloodied face after a beating when she was placed in a neighboring cell. Over months they communicated through a tiny hole they’d secretly made in the wall. They fell in love and when released got married and started a family together. This film tells the poignant story of their family torn apart by the tyrannical Assad dictatorship.
9 Days – From My Window in Aleppo (short film, follows on from A Syrian Love Story + Q&A)
Directed by Syrian Issa Touma with Floor van der Meulen and Thomas Vroege. Shot from Issa’s living room in Syria, when the war started. Issa has now fled Syria and has taken refuge in Scandinavia where he is doing a residency.
Climate Refugees (95 mins) 2010 + panel discussion (Friday 17th March, 8.15pm – 11pm)
Climate Refugees uncovers the unbelievable plight of people around the world displaced by climatically induced environmental disasters. The documentary illuminates for the first time the human face of climate change as civilization now finds itself facing the confluence of overpopulation, lack of resources and a changing climate. Panel discussion with Prof. Tahseen Jafy, Glasgow Caledonian University, Prof. Andrew Baldwin, Durham University and subject of the film Kooj Chuhan. Includes short film Crossing Footprints.
Beasts Of The Southern Wild (93m) 2012 (Saturday 18th March, 12.30pm – 2.30pm)
Beasts of the Southern Wild is a 2012 American drama film co-written, co-scored and directed by Benh Zeitlin. In the film, fearless six-year-old girl Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) lives with her hot-tempered father Wink in ‘the Bathtub’, a fictitious southern bayou community on an island surrounded by rising waters. As Wink contracts a mysterious illness, a massive storm floods the community, which Hushpuppy vividly imagines is caused by the ice caps melting, which in turn has unleashed an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs. Desperate to save her ailing father and repair the structure of the world, this tiny hero is forced to learn how to survive unstoppable catastrophes of epic proportions.
The Crossing (55m) 2015 + Q&A with director George Kurian (Saturday 18th March, 1.10pm – 2.45pm)
A first-hand account of the perilous journey made by a group of Syrian refugees. Traversing land and sea on an old fishing boat manned by smugglers, the nail-biting journey leads to Europe where the refugees disperse.
This Changes Everything (89m) 2015 (Saturday 18th March, 5.45pm – 8.30pm)
Inspired by Naomi Klein’s international non-fiction bestseller, this documentary attempts to re-imagine the vast challenge of climate change. The film presents seven portraits of communities on the front lines, from Montana’s Powder River Basin to the Alberta Tar Sands, from the coast of South India to Beijing and beyond.
Salam Neighbour (75m) 2015 + panel discussion (Sunday 19th March, 1pm – 3.15pm)
Two filmmakers fully embed themselves in a Syrian refugee camp, providing an intimate look at the world’s most dire humanitarian crisis.
Mediterranea (2015) (107m) 2015 (Sunday 19th March, 3.40pm – 6pm)
Two men make the dangerous journey from Africa to Italy for a better life, but then face hostility and violence in this shocking look at the life-and-death struggle of refugees.
The Anthropologist (78 mins) 2015 + live Q&A with Dr Susan Crate (Sunday 17th March, 18:20 – 20:30)
At the core of The Anthropologist are the parallel stories of two women: Margaret Mead, who popularised cultural anthropology in America; and Susie Crate, an environmental anthropologist currently studying the impact of climate change.
Tyneside Cinema is one of the UK’s leading independent specialised film and media venues. Alongside its programmes of new world cinema and digital media arts the cinema is also famous as a screen heritage attraction, housed in its spectacular Grade II listed building in the heart of Newcastle.
More info: www.tynesidecinema.co.uk/gimme-shelter