From the Editor
* “We are an arts charity – can we take action on Palestine?”. That’s the question that Artists for Palestine UK sets out to answer in a new briefing. The advice begins by declaring, “Yes! While there are restrictions around charities’ ability to undertake work deemed ‘political activity’, this does not mean that you can’t undertake work in solidarity with Palestine.” Full statement here.
Daniel Nelson london.globalevents@gmail.com
TALKS AND MEETINGS
Monday 16 February
* Fires and Fascism, documentary + Q&A with filmmaker Pete Knapp, 7 - 10pm, OneClimate, Hedgerley Wood House, Red lane, Chinnor, Oxfordshire, OX39 4BW and online. Info: 07590-261065
* The global rise of the far right, Victor Mallet, Matthew Holehouse, Anna Gross, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, W2 1QJ. Info: Frontline
* Is China’s urban-rural income gap still relevant?, Terry Sicular, 5pm, SOAS, 10 Thornhaugh Street, WC1H 0XG
* Immigration policy: challenges and options, Alan Manning, 6.30pm, London School of Economics, Houghton Street, WC2
Tuesday 17 February
* The Price of Pixels: Unmasking the Environmental Impact of Our Digital Lives, 6pm, Ian Mudway, Gresham College, Barnard's Inn Hall, EC1N 2HH. Info: Gresham
* The World in 2026, Christine Amanpour, 7pm, from £19.99, Intelligence Squared, Emmanuel Centre, 9-23 Marsham Street, SW1P 3DW. Info: Intelligence Squared
* Book Talk: Lessons from the front, Robert Sherman - a rookie war correspondent in Ukraine and Israel, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place W2 1 QJ. Info: Frontline
* Deconstructing Refugee Women’s “Empowerment”, Zeynep Kilicoglu, 1 - 2pm, King’s College, Waterloo Bridge Wing SE1 9NH
* EuroBirderWalks: Walking borders, risk and belonging, Maggie O’Neill, 4 - 5.30pm, Info: Institute of Development Studies
Wednesday 18 February
* Retaining Black students, Marie Gentles, Krystal Douglas-Dodd, online, 6 - 7.15pm. Info: University of Westminster
* Climate Risk and Insurance, Raghavendra Rau, 6pm, Ian Mudway, Gresham College, Barnard's Inn Hall, EC1N 2HH. Info: Gresham College
Thursday 19 February
* Kingdom of the Sick: The Architecture and Topography of Disease, Andrea Bagnato and Oliver Basciano explore how disease has shaped colonisation, segregation, and stigma, 7pm, £125, Barbican Centre, Silk Street EC2Y 8DS. Info: Barbican
* Culture as Security: How Culture Protects Us, Mariam Naiem, Charlotte Higgins and Yassmin Abdel-Magied, 7pm, £15, British Museum, 96 Euston Road, NW1 2DB. Info: Library
* The reopening of the Mosaic Rooms, Wednesday to Saturday 11-6pm, Sunday 12-5pm, Tuesdays by appointment, 226 Cromwell Road SW5 0SW. Info: Mosaic
EXHIBITIONS
* Emergency Exits: The Fight for Independence in Malaya, Kenya and Cyprus, how post Second World War “Emergencies” , as they were termed by the UK, shaped Britain, its former territories and the modern world, free, Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Road SE1 6HZ until 29 March. Info: IWM
+ 28 February, Discussion Day, Yasmin Khan, Rose Miyonga, Maria Hadjiathanasiou, Bethany Rebisz, David Anderson, Huw Bennett, Karl Hack, 2 - 7pm, £30
* Hawaiʻi: a kingdom crossing oceans, a celebration of art and history, £14/ £16, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1B 3DG until 25 May. Info: Hawai’i
* A Greenland shadow over a wonderful Hawai’i exhibition
* Botanical Tales and Seeds of Empire & Flora Indica: Recovering the lost histories of Indian botanical art, The Singh Twins examine the global mythologies of plants and the histories of Empire + Flora Indica – work by historical Indian botanical artists, admission with Kew entry fee, Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art, Kew Gardens until 12 April
+ The Singh Twins light up the links between empire and botany
+ The Singh Twins spotlight Kew’s role in the business of Empire
* Mil Veces un Instante (A Thousand Times In An Instant), Mexican artist Teresa Margolles’ cuboid on the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square is a memorial to trans people worldwide
* Nigerian Modernism, Nigerian artists working before and after the decade of national independence from British colonial rule in 1960, Tate Modern, Bankside SE1 9TG until 10 May. Info: Tate
* A Story of South Asian Art: Mrinalini Mukherjee and Her Circle, artists who have shaped the trajectory of Indian Modernism, £17, Royal Academy, Burlington House, Piccadilly W1J until 24 February. Info: RA
* I Still Dream of Lost Vocabularies, examination of political dissent and erasure through the idea of collage, Sabrina Tirvengadum, Sunil Gupta, Qualeasha Wood, Jess Atieno, Sheida Soleimani, free, Autograph, Rivington Place, EC2A 3BA until 21 March. Info: Exhibition
* The Land Carries, work by three international artists: Ahmed Akasha (UK), Dina Nur Satti (US) and Yasmin Elnour (Bahrain) responding to material in the Petrie Museum of Egyptian and Sudanese Archaeology, 1 - 5pm, Petrie Museum, University College London, Malet Place, WC1E 6BT until 16 May. Info: Sudan exhibition
* Collecting and Empire, trail making connections between archaeology, anthropology and the British Empire, British Museum, Great Russell Street, WC1. Info: British Museum
* British Library, installation of 6,328 books marks the contributions of migrants to UK, Tate Modern, Bankside, SE1. Info: Installation/ 7887 8888
* Target Queen, large-scale commission by British-Indian artist Bharti Kher, Hayward Gallery, Southbank Centre
* Charlie Phillips - Somewhere, Somehow, work by the immigrant who became one of Britain’s greatest photographers, Riverside Studios, 101 Queen Caroline Stret W6 9BN until 9 March. Info: Riverside
* Tixinda, A Snail’s Purple, exhibition about a sea snail whose ink can be milked to produce a purple pigment known as Tyrian or Royal purple, by British-Mexican artist Melanie Smith and Patricio Villarreal Ávila, Peltz Gallery, 43 Gordon Square, WC1H 0PD, until 11 March. Info: Pellz
* Water Pantanal Fire, photography exhibition revealing the fragile beauty of the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland that sprawls across Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay, free, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, SW7 2DD until 31 May. Info: Museum
* To Survive To Witness, works by Gaza-based Palestinian artist Marwan Nassar created during the 2023-25 war in Gaza, P21, 21-27 Chalton Street, NW1 1JD until 13 March. Info: P21
ARTS OPPORTUNITIES
* Wanted: poems and short prose on the tragedy of refugee deaths in the Channel.
* The UK's biggest playwriting award is back, with productions, commissions and cash awards to be won. Open for entries until 5pm, 16 March. Details here.
* The Counterpoints Creators Awards is offering 10 creators £250 each for original, vertical videos (personal ,poetic, cinematic or satirical, up to 2 minutes) that offer fresh, self-authored perspectives by 28 February.
* the other side of hope: journeys in refugee and immigrant literature invites submissions for its next issue, “other tongue, mother tongue.” It seeks poetry by migrants in any language except English. Guidelines.
* The Young Playwrights Award is a free, open-access competition for any teenager in the UK interested in writing a play. Entries are open until 22 April.
* The Royal Court Theatre’s Writers’ Card aims to help playwrights through mentoring, networking, funding opportunities, events, subsidised meals and free script printing.
* UK-based and aged 18-25? The Grierson DocLab: New Entrants training initiative is providing up to 12 individuals with the chance to thrive in factual TV and documentary-making. Deadline: 17 February.
* P21 Gallery & Az Theatre invite submissions for an upcoming exhibition and activities programme on artistic responses to genocide: all media, any genocide.
* The Climate Migration Collaborative seeks contributors to its Climate Migration Storytelling initiative.
* Comedian Munya Chawawa has launched Black Boys Theatre Club “to give young men access to a world of theatre”.
* Women writers, directors, performers, musicians and visual artists are invited to submit projects for the Playground Theatre’s planned Women’s Voices: A Celebration
* The BFI is to invest £150m over the next three years under six headings: audiences, education & heritage, filmmaking & talent development, skills & workforce development, international, and insight & industry.
* New Diorama Theatre is distributing grants of £500 to migrant theatre makers to ease the burden of visa, legal, and other bureaucratic costs affecting migrants navigating UK immigration.
* Good Chance, formed in the Calais Jungle refugee camp, is launching Stage Door 10 - a national programme placing 10 creatives from refugee backgrounds in paid roles across 10 UK theatres and arts organisations.
* Theatro Technis and Hyphen Artist Collective’s offer free in-person & online writing sessions + community chats for hyphenated & global majority creatives.
* Artist Surgeries at the Gate Theatre: on the second Thursday of every month.
* As Yet Unscene, year-round initiative to find and develop scripts in early stages of development. it includes workshops, rehearsed readings and fully-rehearsed performances of longer extracts. Details here
* The Cockpit Theatre offers classes, workshops, readings, advice sessions, support & performance opportunities.
* Papatango hopes its new Playwrights’ Studio will be a home for playwrights of all levels of experience. Its advantages include digital workshops, lone-to-one, and thousands of pounds in open-access funding.
* If you are a refugee, immigrant or asylum-seeking writer interested in exploring your own poetry and prose, Exiled Writers Ink offers classes.
FILM
* The Voice of Hind Rajab, dramatisation of events in January 2024 when Red Crescent volunteers receive an urgent call: a six-year-old girl trapped in a car under fire in Gaza begs for rescue, Curzon Bloomsbury until 18 February; Vues Finchley Road, Westfield London, Westfield Stratford City; 14 February, Vue Islington
* My Father’s Shadow, two brothers connect with their father in this drama set against the backdrop of the 1993 Nigerian presidential election, Picturehouses Finsbury Park, Hackney; 14 February, Rich Mix; until 19 February, National Film Theatre, Riverside; 20 - 26 February Lexi
+ A father’s shadow - and the shadow of a Nigerian coup
+ Ṣọpẹ́ Dìrísù: ’If the west doesn’t say a film is good, that doesn’t mean it’s no good’
* The President’s Cake, despite hardships in 1990s Iraq, Saddam Hussein requires every school to prepare a cake to celebrate his birthday. So 9-year-old Lamia must use her wits and imagination to gather ingredients for the cake or face the consequences, Picturehouses Finsbury Park and Hackney; Barbican, Cine Lumiere, ICA until 19 February
+ A girl, a boy, a rooster and a cake for Saddam
* No Other Choice, a man’s desperation to secure a new job finds him exploring unique ways to eliminate his competitors, in South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s madcap thriller, cinemas all over town
* I’m Migrant Film Festival, film from the SWANA region. programme includes 15 Feb, The Forgotten Civilisation; destruction and violence in Iraq; 17 Feb, the Miraculous Transformation of the Working Class Into Foreigners, migration into Switzerland; 19 Feb, Sumud: Life Endures, three films about Palestine; 22 Feb, Fractured Homes, three films about migration and refuge; 24 Feb, Home Truths, stories exploring relationships and private lives; 27 Feb, I’m Migrant, two documentary portraits. Genesis Cinema.
+ I’m Migrant Film Festival is back
* Masterpieces of the Iranian New Wave, sexuality, identity and oppression explored with honesty, until 26 February. Programme includes 14 Feb, The Ballad of Tara; 17 Feb, The Journey + A Wedding Suit; 21 Feb, The Postman; 24 Feb, The Night It Rained + documentary shorts by Ebrahim Golestan; 25 Feb, Dancer of the City; 26 Feb, Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure. Info: Barbican
* All That’s Left of You, Palestinian American director Cherien Dabis takes us on an epic and poignant journey through a Palestinian family's 75-year history; until 18 February: Cine Lumiere; Barbican; until 19 February ICA
* The Secret Agent, Brazilian political thriller, Odens Greenwich and Luxe Acton; 17 February: Odeons Lee Valley, Streatham, Wimbledon; 18 February, Lexi, 11am; 20 - 26 February ICA
* Make it Look Real, a local photo studio in Pakistan serves as a vibrant cultural hub where personal dreams and community connections are brought to life through photography, Curzon Bloomsbury until 20 February
Saturday 14 February
* Taxi Tehran, director Jafar Panahi poses as a taxi driver iwho, rather than demanding cash payment from customers for his services, asks only to hear something about their lives, 4pm, Curzon Bloomsbury
* Mississippi Masala, Mira Nair’s 90's drama is a tender exploration of interracial and intercultural relationships, 8.40pm, National Film Theatre
* Multicultural TV on the BBC, to rival Channel 4 the BBC established its own multicultural units. Examples of their output will be screened, 6.10pm, National Film Theatre
Sunday 15 February
* The Revolution Was Televised, a piece of British TV history - news and non-fiction TV from the 1980s that showed a generation of young Black Britons rejecting the brutal climate of police profiling, 6.40pm, National Film Theatre
Monday 16 February
* The global rise of the far right, Victor Mallet, Matthew Holehouse, Anna Gross, 7pm, from £5.94, Frontline Club, Norfolk Place. W2. Info: Frontline
* Black Queer Lives in the Archive, Jason Okundaye discusses queer-focused media in the multicultural corpus, 6.20pm, National Film Theatre
Tuesday 17 February
* Last Days, Justin Ling’s portrait of a young missionary whose desire to spread the gospel in the remote North Sentinel Island, which has had no contact with the outside world, resulted in tragedy, 6pm, National Film Theatre
Wednesday 18 February
* Djouhra Abouda: Ali in Wonderland, directed by a woman, the film observes immigrant workers in 1970s France, offering a critique of labour, exploitation and racism, 6pm, £12, £10 concessions, £5 students, Ciné Lumière, Institut Français. Info: Mosaic Rooms
PERFORMANCE
* Far Gone, one-man performance tracing a boy’s journey from innocence to child soldier with the Lord’s Resistance Army, and survival, £22, Brixton House, 85 Coldharbour Lane, SW9 8GL until 21 February. Info: Brixton House
+ From boy to man in a flash in the Lord’s Resistance Army
* Borders: Digital, Political, Emotional, plays by Banu Senel, Salman Saddiqi, Erdogan Soyturk, Tamara von Werthern, Andrew Lawston, £15 - £20, Arcola Theatre, 24 Ashwin Street E8 3DL, until 14 February. Info: Arcola
TV and RADIO
Saturday 14 February
* Airbrushing Autocracy: The Fall and Rise of the Marcoses, the 1986 revolution in The Philippines, 8pm, Radio4
Sunday 15 February
* Return to the City of Darkness, a soundscape of Kowloon, 7.15pm, Radio3
Monday 16 February
* Other, By Leila Slimani: Being An Immigrant, essay by the French-Moroccan writer, 11.45am, midnight30, Radio4
* How did we get here?, series on the origins of the Middle East conflict, 8pm, Radio4
Tuesday 17 February
* Other, By Leila Slimani: Imagining Others, essay by the French-Moroccan writer, 11.45am, midnight30, Radio4
Wednesday 17 February
* Other, By Leila Slimani: Being A Woman, essay by the French-Moroccan writer, 11.45am, midnight30, Radio4
* Slim’s Guide To Life, in the first of a six-part series a 53-year-old stand-up locks back at his Black British childhood, 11pm, Radio4
Thursday 19 February
* Cecil: The Lion and the Dentist, a look-back at the 2015 controversy over the shooting of a Zimbabwean lion by a US trophy hunter that also raises questions about national parks, 10pm, Channel4
* Other, By Leila Slimani: Language and Belonging, essay by the French-Moroccan writer, 11.45am, midnight30, Radio4
* Word of Mouth, the loss of languages around the world, 3.30pm, Radio4
Friday 20 February
* Other, By Leila Slimani: Myths of Motherhood, essay by the French-Moroccan writer, 11.45am, midnight30, Radio4