Cinenova Special Screening presented by the Society of Explorers and Creative Producers
film • 22 May 2025 6pm–8pm
Join us for an evening of short films selected from the Cinenova collection by two of Site Gallery’s youth programmes, Creative Producers and Society of Explorers.
Site Gallery’s youth programmes, Creative Producers and Society of Explorers, have been engaging with the films and history of Cinenova – a volunteer-run organisation dedicated to preserving and distributing the work of feminist film and video makers.
This programme of films responds to the themes of Subjects of State, Labours of Love, Site Gallery’s current exhibition by artist filmmaker Rhea Storr. Her work captures the shared joys, celebrations, struggles, oppressions and complexities experienced by Caribbean heritage communities.
Join us for an evening of collectively programmed and introduced short films that connect the histories of feminist filmmaking with contemporary issues at stake. The Society of Explorers will DJ a curated playlist, and there will be a donations bar with soft drinks and popcorn.
Film Programme
Video 28
Vera Productions, 1988, 20 minutes
This documentary shows people protesting a new law called Section 28, which stopped schools and teachers from talking positively about being gay. It includes clips of marches, interviews, and even people climbing into the House of Lords to make their voices heard. The film was made by a group in Leeds and captures the energy, anger, and bravery of people fighting for fairness.
Pretend You’ll Survive
Leeds Animation Workshop, 9 minutes
This animated film tells the story of a woman worried about nuclear war, and shows how the advice given by the government wouldn’t actually help in a real emergency. It also talks about the link between using nuclear energy and building dangerous weapons. The film ends with the slogan ‘Don’t Pretend, PROTEST!’ The animation style makes a serious topic easier to understand and helps get the message across clearly.
A Tribute to Black Women (They Don’t Get a Chance)
Women’s Independent Cinema House (W.I.T.C.H.), 1986, 20 min
Created by the feminist collective W.I.T.C.H., this film centres Black women’s voices and histories, combining street interviews with reflections on historical figures too often left out of mainstream narratives. Originally made for educational use in schools and universities, the film highlights systemic racism and the resilience of Black women navigating both racial and gender oppression. A pioneering grassroots film that blends activism and education, giving platform to Black feminist voices rarely heard in the 1980s.
Loss of Heat
Noski Deville, 1994, 20 minutes
This emotionally intense and visually experimental film explores queer intimacy through the lens of a character living with epilepsy. Interweaving themes of love, vulnerability, desire, and dependency, it questions how invisible disabilities affect not just the body but the dynamics of care within relationships. A tender and visually rich film that reclaims queer storytelling from the margins and complicates traditional portrayals of illness and love.
This event is free, but capacity is limited – please reserve your place in advance.
Photo credit: Kaisa Lassinaro.
Artists
Cinenova is a volunteer-run organisation preserving and distributing the work of feminist film and video makers. Cinenova was founded in 1991 following the merger of two feminist film and video distributors, Circles and Cinema of Women, each formed in 1979. Cinenova currently distributes over 300 titles that include artists’ moving image, experimental film, narrative feature films, documentary and educational videos made from the 1910’s to the early 2000’s. The thematics in these titles include oppositional histories, post and de-colonial struggles, representation of gender, race, sexuality, and other questions of difference and importantly the relations and alliances between these different struggles.
The Cinenova Working Group, founded in 2010, oversees the ongoing work of preservation and distribution, as well as special projects that seek to question the conditions of the organisation.