Film telling 'moving' Glasgow story of community action to open Scottish film festival
The film is also to be shown at Sundance in the US
A documentary telling the “moving” story of a community’s resistance to a Home Office crackdown on asylum seekers in Glasgow is to open the Glasgow Film Festival.
Everybody to Kenmure Street, which is also to be shown at this year’s Sundance festival, documents the story of a Home Office dawn raid in the city’s Pollokshields area.
As word spread in the early morning of what was Eid celebrations for many locals, a handful of protestors swelled to hundreds of people, flooding Kenmure Street and making it impassable to the immigration enforcement van. The eight-hour stand-off made international headlines.
Directed by BAFTA-winning Glasgow filmmaker Felipe Bustos Sierra, the film uses crowd-sourced footage from the day along with archive film and set-designed scenes captured by cinematographer Kirstin McMahon, featuring actors relaying verbatim the testimonies of contributors who wished to remain anonymous.
Bustos Sierra said: "This film is a snapshot of a day, of a neighbourhood, and of gestures repeated through time, for the right to have a voice and to live in peace. Glasgow's long history of civil disobedience and meaningful change has been a barometer throughout the making of this film. I cannot wait to watch it at the GFT with its hometown audience, for whom we can only hope it'll be a joyful reminder of what a beacon they can be in uncertain times."
His hit debut documentary Nae Pasaran told the story of how the boycott of East Kilbride Rolls Royce factory workers helped end Pinochet’s regime in 1970s Chile and had its World Premiere as the closing gala of Glasgow Film Festival 2018.
Paul Gallagher, head of programme for Glasgow Film Festival, said: “I’m delighted that Felipe Bustos Sierra will be returning to GFF to open our festival with this hugely inspiring film. Everybody to Kenmure Street tells a story that is pertinent for the whole world right now, focusing on a very specific moment in Glasgow’s recent past to offer a deeply moving vision of community action and resistance to injustice.
“With this film Felipe has captured an essential aspect of Glasgow’s people-loving heart; I can’t wait to share his vision with the world.”
Everybody To Kenmure Street, produced by Ciara Barry of Glasgow-based production company barry crerar, in association with Bustos Sierra through Debasers Films, will open the 22nd edition of Scotland’s largest film festival with a gala UK premiere at Glasgow Film Theatre (GFT) on 25 February.
GFF26 will close with the Gala UK Premiere of James McAvoy’s directorial debut California Schemin’ on 8 March, making it the second year in a row that Scotland’s largest film festival has opened and closed with a Scottish feature film.
Tickets to both the opening gala and closing gala, which features the UK premiere of James McAvoy's directorial debut California Schemin', will go on sale at 10am Monday 19 January at glasgowfilm.org.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.