Human rights activist Janet Alder and documentary filmmaker Ken Fero will be appearing in Kendal for a special event that will form part of a national tour.
Brewery Arts will host award-winning film Ultraviolence on November 26, an event which is supported by Anti Racist Cumbria.
Ultraviolence premiered at the prestigious London Film Festival last year and since then has received high praise from critics including the Guardian’s Chief Film reviewer Peter Bradshaw who wrote that Ultraviolence makes “every other documentary look obtuse and irrelevant”.
The film, which is also distributed by the BFI, weaves powerful and exclusive material, some of it highly shocking, regarding the deaths of people at the hands of police in the UK.
Janet Alder, the sister of Christopher Alder whose death is included in the film said: “I’ve worked with the filmmakers since my brother Christopher’s horrific death on the custody suite floor, with his trousers down and his hands cuffed behind his back.
“Ultraviolence exposes the hidden issues and the effects on families after suffering suspicious horrendous deaths in the custody of state agents in police stations. Ultraviolence links the deaths and denial of justice with many other injustices in the world which, on a human level, promotes compassion and understanding.”
Ken Fero, director of Ultraviolence, said: “The role of this film is to shine a light on the violence of the state, expose the collusion that prevents truth from prevailing but, most importantly, to remind people that, even in the most dire circumstances, the ability to continue to fight for justice is timeless. Ultraviolence is a call to arms as well as a beacon of hope for today.”
Janett Walker Anti Racist Cumbria’s CEO & Co-Founder said: “The topics in this film are hard to hear and even harder to see but this is why they are so important. In the words of writer and activist James Baldwin, ‘not all that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.’
“We are proud to be partnering on this special event and encourage people to engage with the film and especially the Q&A session with Janet and Ken. It is unusual for more rural areas to be part of film tours of this kind, that Cumbria is lucky enough to host this is testament to our county’s emerging commitment to anti-racism.”
The film has been officially screened in a number of film festivals where it has picked citations including a Special Audience Award at the Arbetar Film Festival in November in Malmö, Sweden. The screening at Brewery is the first to take place in Cumbria and will then continue its national tour, which is supported by Black Lives Matter, and go on to Birmingham, Coventry, Edinburgh, Falmouth and London.
