Events

Colossal Wreck takes us on an odyssey inside the COP28 climate conference in Dubai. Are these enormous get-togethers all about false promises that hinder change? Or are they the only hope we've got for world-saving unity?

With his innocuous selfie-stick, filmmaker Josh Appignanesi moves unnoticed through Dubai's seductive slickness to reveal the talks, meetings and elite backroom parties behind the strange mixture of global cry for help and empty posturing that is a COP.

Lost in translation, he comes face to face with the irony of an oil baron hosting this last-chance climate saloon in a techno-utopian leisure city -- that, er, happens to be built in a burning desert. But then the business-as-usual is ruptured by a searing encounter with indigenous voices from the frontline of climate injustice…

Nottingham Climate Assembly (NCA) supports a city-wide dialogue to help tackle the city’s environmental challenges. Sponsored by Nottingham Green Partnership, NCA is working towards a full Citizen's Assembly in Spring 2026 which aims to address how we achieve a just transition to net zero in the city.

As part of this process NCA is engaging with a variety of different groups across the city, to raise awareness and identify the key issues, by running a number of Mini Assemblies.

Accelerate the Shift and NCA are supporting Nottingham People, Planet, Pint & Pastry networking groups with this mini assembly - which is aimed at climate and environmentally active SME leaders and professionals in the city and beyond.

This informal two-hour event will give you the opportunity to discuss issues relating to sustainability, to be listened to, build consensus on climate and environmental action and make recommendations to local decision makers.

This is a screening by Porlock Press, an independent Nottingham-based film club showing a wide range of cult film, with a focus on animation of all kinds.

Evžen leads a secret double life, split across the waking world and the land of dreams. By day he is a married man working a run-of-the-mill office job, but by night he wanders the streets of his sleeping mind to rendezvous with a mysterious woman named Eva (or is she Eliza, Emily, or even Evženie?).

With the aid of psychoanalyst Dr Holubová and an esoteric book on lucid dreaming, Evžen explores his interior world and experiences a revelation that shakes the very core of his being.

Made with a mix of live action close-ups and animated photograph cut-outs, Surviving Life perfectly captures the familiar yet uncanny feeling of dreaming.

Švankmajer uses the collage aesthetic to great effect, unloading a barrage of Surrealist imagery on his audience. Humans swap heads with animals (and vice-versa) as a giant snake stalks the city in search of prey.

Flowers explode into bloom like halos around people’s heads. Teeth are violently extracted from wailing mouths and eggs rain down from the sky. Classical symbols of fertility are found everywhere.

Described as a psychoanalytical comedy, Surviving Life continues the director’s lifelong investigation into the power and potential of our subconscious lives.

Don’t miss this rare chance to see a hidden gem of Švankmajer’s filmography on the big screen!

"Buñuel + Disney = Švankmajer" - Miloš Forman

Screening in Czech with English subtitles

Join us this World Soil Day for a triple bill of short films!

ONE LAST FARM  / 2024 / 17 mins
by Nikki Dodd
Yew Tree Farm not only produces locally grown, organic food, but the farm’s rich grasslands and ancient hedgerows provide habitat for wildlife, including bats, dormice and otters. For third-generation farmer Catherine Withers, Yew Tree Farm means everything. It is her home, her livelihood, and where she’s creating a community that values nature. But the farm’s existence is threatened by a proposed cemetery expansion and housing development.

MY NAME IS SWALLOW  / 2024 / 24 mins
by Owen Brewster and Jackson Laybourn   
On her way to stand trial, Swallow, an accused climate activist, contemplates the sacrifices she has made and whether it was all worth it.

TREADING THE LINE / 2024 / 23 mins
by Owen Brewster and Jackson Laybourn   
Two friends cycle the length of the East African Crude Oil Pipeline. They discover the destruction total energies are causing to people, wildlife and environment.

In the desert lands of Western India, against the backdrop of a rapidly industrialising country, the charming and charismatic family of Ahmed, Sakina and their five children are forced to give up their traditional way of life as nomadic camel-herders and adapt to a ‘settled’ existence as daily labourers, spending their days loading carts of sand in the pursuit of a few hundred rupees. In a story that spans over five years, this film invites the viewer to breathe the same air as the camel-herders of Kutch, whose future is being suffocated by our rapidly modernising world.

The director Sonum Sumaria will join us virtually for our discussion after the screening.