Film portraying life in Northern towns post-Brexit to premiere at Leeds film festival
Documentary film ‘From Where We Stand’ originated from a large-scale University of Leeds research project entitled Northern Exposure: Race, Nation and Disaffection in ‘Ordinary Towns and Cities after Brexit’.
Billed as “a thoughtfully observed… authentic portrait of Northern England post-Brexit”, the documentary was created and directed by the award-winning, independent film-maker Lucy Kaye and will premiere at 37th Leeds International Film Festival between 10-19 November.
Both compassionate and clear-sighted, the film weaves stories from diverse voices across Wakefield, Halifax and Middlesbrough to create an intimate portrait of how post-industrial towns in the north of England are coping with changing times.
Brexit remains a significant background theme of the project, while social and economic deprivation, community divisions and the ways in which people find a sense of belonging were foregrounded.
I want the film to bring these themes alive through encounters between myself and the people who live in these towns, to hear from those whose stories aren’t part of the mainstream narrative.
From Where We Stand will be shown at Howard Assembly Room, at Leeds Opera House, at 6pm on Friday November 10th, followed by a Q & A with the film-maker and participants of the film in the audience.
All screenings are free. Register here for tickets.
Northern Exposure Research Project
Led by Adrian Favell, Visiting Professor at the School of Sociology and Social Policy, the Northern Exposure research project was a large-scale social science study of four classic "red wall" locations in the North of England (Preston, Halifax, Wakefield and Middlesbrough), running from 2019 to 2022.
Part of ESRC's 'Governance after Brexit' programme, which worked closely with the UK in a Changing Europe initiative to maximise the wider impact of long term research on Brexit, the project examined questions of community relations, economic marginalisation, and political disaffection in the aftermath of Brexit and during the COVID crisis.
Lucy’s film resonates fully with our research. Both challenging and emotional, it captures the lives of people affected by the aftermath of Brexit, against the backdrop of three key Northern locations.
The project team was led by Professor Adrian Favell (then Chair in Sociology and Social Theory) and included SSP colleagues Dr Roxana Barbulescu, Dr Albert Varela, Dr Yasmin Hussain, Dr Andrew Wallace and Professor Paul Bagguley, together with Zinovijus Ciupijus, of the Leeds University Business School and colleagues from other University of Leeds departments.
To find out more about the research project, please visit the Northern Exposure website here or contact Professor Adrian Favell, Principal Investigator of the Northern Exposure project, via his email: a.favell@leeds.ac.uk.
