Last week, Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) evicted homeless people living at The Ark on its Oxford Road land for the second time, drawing wide condemnation (see previous Salford Star articles click here and click here).
This week, MMU is to house events for the national Homeless Film Festival - which runs 1st to 14th November at various sites in Greater Manchester and around the country - leading to complaints of crass hypocrisy (see previous Salford Star article click here). However, the Festival has confirmed that the MMU events will go ahead...
"We are independent and have no affiliation to any university or venue where we screen content, our goal is to use venues as a tool to raise awareness and educate" the Festival organisers state "However, as Manchester Metropolitan University is one of the Festival venues, the charity has been following the activities regarding The Ark site on Oxford Road closely. We have witnessed the footage of both protesters and homeless people being removed from the site.
"However, the charity firmly believes in using the Festival as a forum for debate and that by cancelling any screenings at Manchester Metropolitan University, as has been suggested by some people via social media, it will deprive the students and staff at the university (all of whom have individual opinions) an opportunity to engage with local, national and global issues regarding homelessness, including those on the Ark site on Oxford Road" they add "It's our firm belief that film can be a force for change.
"It has the ability to immerse people within a particular issue and through the Festival we want to not only show films about homelessness but immerse people in this to inspire filmmakers to use their skills to further challenge the perceptions of homelessness in contemporary culture" they explain "It's clear to note that Homeless Film Festival is not a political organisation. We work on a voluntary basis and partner with many homeless charities throughout the UK to ensure their service users have an opportunity to take part in the festival and filmmaking workshops. For instance, in Manchester we work with service users and staff from various charities and have recently run filmmaking workshops in both a women's refuge and hostel for young people."
The Homeless Film Festival has three events on at MMU. On 3rd November (4pm) there is a screening of Inocente by Director Sean Fine a `documentary about a young artist's determination to never surrender to the bleakness of her surroundings'. On 4th November (10am-noon), the Homeless Film Festival's Director, Dean Brocklehurst, will be talking to students about the homeless and film making, and on 10th November (4pm) there's a screening of Francois Truffaut film, 400 Blows, about a young Parisian boy who has `conflicts with unsympathetic authority figures'...
Elsewhere in Greater Manchester, The Whitworth has a free screening of Waste Land on 12th November (7pm) a documentary `where trash and social injustice meets art' on the garbage dumps of Brazil.
On 9th November, the Moston Small Cinema has a whole day of selected screenings, beginning at 11:30am with Love and Hate, and ending with Naked at 6pm. Home, in Manchester, is showing the film London To Brighton, followed by a talk, on 3rd November (6:20pm tickets £5/£7.50), and on 4th November (6:20pm tickets £5/£7.50) is hosting a series of short films about homelessness.
"The Homeless Film Festival is the first festival of its kind dedicated to confronting and presenting homeless issues" states the Festival organisers "Our belief is that filmmaking can be a force of change and we use film to educate and empower people... Our goal for the Festival is to highlight the wide ranging issues surrounding homelessness, invite discussion and debate around these issues and to give homeless affected people an opportunity to engage in film and filmmaking..."
For further details of the Homeless Film Festival see the website www.homelessfilmfestival.org/
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