Xenia and friends warmly invite you to 'They came here to discuss': A Film Screening Celebrating Women's Voices, bringing together talented filmmakers from our community for a night of film and conversation.
Book tickets here
Xenia is a women's charity based in East London, with a sister project in Sheffield. We run conversation workshops, providing space for women to come practice English with other women who are learning, fluent and confident.
Xenia welcomes all women, including migrant, refugee, asylum seeking and native English women. We operate an open door policy, collecting minimum data, providing childcare and travel support. Our sessions focus on conversation as the means to share, learn and raise our consciousnesses together.
Please join us for Xenia's first public fundraising event. We are raising money for our first summer trip to the seaside. We will be heading to Margate for some much needed respite and joy.
60% of funds raised from tonight will go towards Xenia's trip; 40% will go towards venue costs at Newington Green Meeting House, with thanks to New Unity.
Book tickets here
🎬 Programme:
Doors will open from 6.30pm with a start time of 7.00pm. There will be a bar with drinks and snacks.
🪑My Grandfather's House (ဖိုးဖိုးရဲ့အိမျ), dir. Shunn Lei Swe Yee, Myanmar 2013, 22 mins. Burmese with English subtitles.
A short film exploring the life and activism of Thakin Htein Win, one of the architects of the Burmese independence movement, through the voice of his granddaughter. Her grandfather's house, and the everyday rhythms of domestic life, frame her memories and stories of political organising, philosophical debate and plans for a new future.
🕊️My Letter to Pippa (Pippa'ya Mektubum), dir. Bingöl Elmas, France and Turkey 2010, 60 mins. Turkish with English subtitles
In 2008, Italian artist and feminist activist, Pippa Bacca was murdered in Gebze, western Turkey, while hitchhiking from Milan to Israel. Wearing a white wedding dress, Bacca had intended to raise awareness for world peace, before her life was violently cut short. Filmmaker Bingöl Elmas dons a black wedding dress and continues Pippa's intended journey, starting in Gebze and ending at the Syrian border. Hitchhiking alone across Turkey, Elmas tries to make sense of Pippa's death, reflecting on processes of trust, power, symbolic acts of protest and the everyday reality of violence against women and girls.
🧺Being LGBTİ in the Neighbourhood (Mahellade LGBTİ Olmak), dir. Ada Aysę İmamoğlu, Turkey 2016, 4 min. Turkish with English subtitles.
A short documentary exploring the everyday lives of LGBTQ+ people living in Turkey, through and with the neighbourhoods in which they live. Focussing on the perspective of Tolga, the collective life and architecture of his neighbourhood becomes a second character in this meditation on acts of daily resistance, joy and life.
🎤 Followed by a conversation between filmmakers Shunn Lei Swe Yee and Ada Aysę İmamoğlu, exploring shared themes of resistance, memory and women's experiences across cultures and geographies.
Book tickets here
The Newington Green Meeting House is the home of New Unity, a radically inclusive community of love and justice. This event is a partnership event, with space offered by New Unity's arts programme Arts on the Green. Arts on the Green exists to provide flexible space to arts practitioners bringing high quality culture to our community.
For accessibility info, please visit this page.
For any specific accessibility requirements or for any queries about the venue, please email: arts@new-unity.org.