Journeys into Film: Short Films by Sanctuary-Seeking Filmmakers

Journeys into Film - the film strand of Journeys Festival International - has been growing steadily over the last 3 years with screenings of features and short films in cinemas and community venues as part of the festival. With investment and support from Film Hub North and Film Hub Midlands, the programme has been able to find its own identity with a selection of bold, experimental and intimate films that articulate the voices of their makers’ lived experiences, seeking to resonate with audiences across the country.

For 2021, a fantastic programme of five short films has been selected offering both artistic intrigue and an injection of the reality of displacement and seeking refuge. This selection of contemporary films looks into collective experiences of displacement – focusing on the stories of the sounds, languages, histories and memories that shape our relationship to space and identity.

After the successful launch of this year’s Journeys into Film programme as part of the Refugee Week 2021 celebrations and further being featured at Migration Matters Festival, the programme continues to grow its reach into new audiences: Dan Williamson, producer for ArtReach and Journeys into Film, was invited to contribute programme notes to the new feature film Limbo by Director Ben Sharrock, distributed by MUBI.

Limbo follows the story of Omar, a promising young musician newly arrived on a remote Scottish island where he is seeking sanctuary, having fled his homeland of Syria due to the ongoing civil war. Omar is an artist stuck and struggling to deal with his displacement as well as reconnecting with his art whilst attempting to integrate into a suspicious and unprepared local community. He tries to understand the hostile UK asylum system that is filled with unreasonable obstacles and failings as he waits for the fate of his asylum application.

This summer, to celebrate the release of Limbo on 30 July, we are excited to have teamed up with BFI FAN to offer independent indie cinemas the opportunity to screen Journeys into Film shorts ahead of their screenings of Limbo, giving these films and filmmakers a significant growth in national profile.

You can read more about Limbo here: Limbo

You can read more about Journeys into Film for 2021 here: 2021 Programme

If you would like to book any of these short films to broadcast at your independent or community cinema, please contact Dan Williamson here: dan@artreach.biz

The programme is supported and made possible by Film Hub North and Film Hub Midlands, awarding National Lottery funding on behalf of the BFI Film Audience Network.