A celebration of courage, community, and storytelling through film
This June, Portsmouth Film Society is proud to present a special Refugee Week Film Festival in collaboration with Portsmouth City of Sanctuary, Friends Without Borders Portsmouth, and Running from 16–21 June, the mini festival brings together a powerful programme of international films, discussions, and community events exploring migration, displacement, resilience, and belonging. Most screenings across the festival will be free to attend, reflecting the organisers’ commitment to accessibility, inclusion, and community participation.
Inspired by this year’s Refugee Week theme, “Courage”, the programme highlights stories of resistance, survival, identity, and hope from filmmakers across the world.
The festival opens on Tuesday 16 June with Dreamers (2025), Joy Gharoro-Akpojotor’s urgent and moving story following a Nigerian migrant newly placed inside a UK immigration removal centre.
Across the week, audiences will experience a diverse programme of shorts and features including Hayat (2019), Tskatulbo(2023), Migrants (2020), Infancia Desterrada (2022), Aziza (2019), and Mahdi Fleifel’s acclaimed documentary A World Not Ours (2012), charting generations of exile within the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Helweh in Lebanon.
The festival will also feature Refugee Week: Simple Acts on Thursday 18 June — a community-focused fundraising event supporting Friends Without Borders — alongside a screening of Everybody To Kenmure Street (2025), documenting the extraordinary resistance to a Home Office immigration raid in Glasgow’s Pollokshields neighbourhood.
Portsmouth Film Society says:
“We are incredibly proud to collaborate with local organisations who work tirelessly to support refugees, asylum seekers, and displaced communities in Portsmouth. This festival is about creating space for empathy, conversation, solidarity, and shared humanity through cinema.”
By bringing together local groups, artists, audiences, and international voices, the Refugee Week Film Festival aims to use film as a bridge between communities — creating opportunities not only to witness stories, but to connect through them.
Festival Dates
📍 Southsea Cinema & Arts Centre 📅 16, 17, 18 & 21 June 2025
Tickets & Information
Most screenings are free. Booking information available at: Southsea Cinema & Arts Centre
In collaboration with:
- Portsmouth City of Sanctuary
- Friends Without Borders Portsmouth
