BIMI

A special London screening of the documentary, Elvira Notari: Beyond the Silence (Valerio Ciraci, 2025, 90 mins). A post-screening discussion will follow with Valerio Ciraci (director), Antonella Di Nocera (producer) and Prof Christine Gledhill (feminist film historian), chaired by Dr Janet McCabe (BIMI)

We’re very glad to bring 𝑬𝒍𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒂 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒊: 𝑩𝒆𝒚𝒐𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 back to London for the closing event of our UK tour, hosted by the Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image (@bimi_bbk at @birkbeckuol ). Join us! The event has free entry. With thanks to @iiclondra and @wfthn_ukandireland for their support of this and other events in this wonderful trip! 📽️ 𝑬𝒍𝒗𝒊𝒓𝒂 𝑵𝒐𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒊: 𝑩𝒆𝒚𝒏𝒅 𝑺𝒊𝒍𝒆𝒏𝒄𝒆 (2025) 📅 May 8 – 18:00 📍 Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image, University of London Q&A to follow with: 🎙️ Valerio Ciriaci (Director) @valeriociriaci 🎙️ Antonella Di Nocera (Producer) @antonella_dinocera 🎙️ Professor Christine Gledhill (Women’s Film & TV History Network) Moderated by: 🎙️ Dr Janet McCabe (Birkbeck Institute for the Moving Image) #ElviraNotari #Documentary #London #Birkbeck #FilmHistory #SilentFilm

Join us next Friday for Elvira Notari: Beyond the Silence Friday 8 May: 18:00-20:30 FREE, Link in Bio A meditation on memory itself — on how it is written and how it is erased, on who is allowed a voice in the history of cinema. In collaboration with the Women’s Film and Television History Network (WFTHN), BIMI offers a special London screening of the documentary, Elvira Notari: Beyond the Silence (Valerio Ciraci, 2025, 90 mins). A post-screening discussion will follow with Valerio Ciraci (director), Antonella Di Nocera (producer), Francesca Sofia Allegra (editor) and Prof Christine Gledhill (feminist film historian), chaired by Dr Janet McCabe (BIMI). A leading figure in the golden age of Neapolitan silent cinema, Elvira Notari created some 60 feature films that wove the passions of popular melodrama with unflinching depictions of urban life, captivating audiences from Naples to the Little Italies of America. Undermined by Fascist censorship and family strife, she withdrew from filmmaking in 1930. Her name slipped into silence, and most of her work was lost. Today, 150 years after her birth, Elvira returns to centre stage. More than a biographical documentary, Elvira Notari: Beyond the Silence is a living, prismatic portrait of a cinematic pioneer whose vision continues to resonate — a belated recognition that restores Notari to the historical place she deserves.

Nine Days in ‘26 Narrator Ian Holm Camera Ivan Strasburg Writer Tom Scott Robson Producer Robert Vas A BBC Production, 1974

We Film the People (2013) by Ania Szczepanska

Tonight marked the beginning of the BIMI and the Jarman Lab series of screenings and events on MAKING. The first event in the series was titled De-Generated and explored the question of human agency against the backdrop of the rapidly expanding creative use of AI-generated imagery. The programme included: Close Cuts by Bartek Dziadosz Call Me When You Get There, Act I: Data Haunted by Magritte’s Ghost and Act II: An Uncanny Dialogue by Donatella Della Ratta and Alessandro Turchioe The Rock Speaks by Amy Louise Wilson and Francois Knoetze

Complete Fragments: Screening Fragments from the TV Archive This evenings screening showcased rare material demonstrating the challenges of creating and maintaining television archives across different eras and contexts—including nations with commercially centred television industries where national archives are underdeveloped or non-existent.

Primaries By Jack Greeley-Ward

Films by Jack Greeley-Ward with live musical performances Primaries is an interdisciplinary performance-screening that explores colour as an active force shaping perception, behaviour, and relational dynamics. This 75-minute sensory experience guides audiences through the full colour wheel, blending monochromatic film with live performance. Three animations — Yellow, Red, and Blue — anchor the work, while performers respond to the transitional colour-field states that connect each film. As the space becomes flooded with shifting hues, the chromatic environment shapes mood, provokes emotional turns, and influences both individual and collective presence. Performers absorb, resist, or amplify these states, revealing how colour can harmonise bodies in space or bring them into subtle friction. Primaries invites audiences into a live, continually evolving relationship with colour. Link in Bio

We held the screening of Kut al-Amara – From Tale to Truth at Birkbeck University Cinema, delivered in collaboration with Birkbeck, University of London. The evening opened with welcoming remarks from Dr Janet McCabe, who reflected on the importance of presenting works that revisit overlooked or silenced histories. The documentary — written and directed by Koray Demir — revisits the 1916 Siege of Kut and traces how political narratives, empire, and collective memory shape the way this episode is remembered today. Blending archival material, field research, and a distinct cinematic language, the film offers a rare look at a chapter of the First World War that remains largely absent from mainstream accounts. Following the screening, an extended Q&A with Koray Demir and film scholar Prof. Nezih Erdoğan explored the film’s historical framework, production process, and visual approach. The discussion touched on the tension between artistic interpretation and historical responsibility, the complexities of filming across seven countries, and the broader question of how cinema can bring suppressed histories back into public view. Thank you to everyone who joined us for this thoughtful evening of film, history, and conversation. Video Credit © @a.haydaryesilyurt & Şehribanu Turan

Barrelstout presents: Works from the Barrelstout Archives at Birkbeck, University of London — Dec 5, 18:30 An evening of bold, no-budget experimental cinema using Super8, slides & digital, plus a post-screening conversation. Come by!

Kut al Amara – From Tale to Truth | Documentary Film Screening & Q&A Presented in collaboration with Yunus Emre Enstitüsü – London. 28 November 2025, 18:00 Come by, next week! Booking details in bio and full information below: Award-winning documentary “Kut al Amara – From Tale to Truth” revisiting a forgotten WWI story screens at Birkbeck University Cinema Yunus Emre Enstitüsü – London, in collaboration with Birkbeck, University of London, proudly presents the award-winning documentary Kut al Amara – From Tale to Truth, written and directed by Koray Demir. The screening will take place on Friday, 28 November 2025, at Birkbeck University Cinema, followed by an in-depth Q&A session with the director and Prof. Nezih Erdoğan. Kut al Amara – From Tale to Truth revisits one of the most overlooked yet decisive moments of the First World War — the 1916 Siege of Kut al-Amara, where the Ottoman army triumphed over British forces. Through cinematic storytelling, rare archival materials, and first-hand testimonies, the documentary unearths the human stories behind this forgotten victory, reflecting on the fall of a superpower at the hands of a people underestimated by history. The film was developed over three years of meticulous research and production across seven countries — Türkiye, Iraq, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and the USA. Director Koray Demir, who is also a historian, led field expeditions to historical sites and battlefields, gathering thousands of minutes of interviews with historians, journalists, and descendants of tribal leaders. Despite challenging and sometimes hazardous conditions, the production team captured rare footage on location in Iraq, creating a visually striking and emotionally resonant documentary. Kut al Amara – From Tale to Truth has received international recognition and multiple awards across film festivals in 2024 and 2025, praised for its historical depth, cinematic language, and poetic storytelling. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Koray Demir and Prof. Nezih Erdoğan, exploring the film’s historical context, visual language, and the process of transforming collective memory into cinematic form.