Yesterday evening Hostile screened at the Pickford Film Center, as part of its annual DOCtober Festival – a month-long celebration of the art of documentary filmmaking.

The screening was followed by a virtual Q&A with the film’s director Sonita Gale, interviewed by Regina Jefferies, Assistant Professor on the Law, Diversity and Justice programme at Western Washington University.

The conversation included a discussion around Sonita’s motivation for making the film and the difficulties of documentary filmmaking during the pandemic. They also discussed the relationship between migrant communities and the NHS, and the power of local action against the state.

Following the screening, Regina Jefferies said:

“This is a powerful and rich film that makes it impossible to ignore systemic inequalities, structural racism and xenophobia. The transnational nature of these issues – so familiar to those of us in the U.S. – raises important questions about what it means to belong to a society and what it means to be British.”

Other films at the festival included Refuge, After Sherman and Young Plato.

This was the first of two screenings at the festival, and the next one will take place on Thursday, October 27th. Click here for tickets.


Did you attend the screening? Let us know your thoughts on social media @hostiledoc