Film Programming
I have independently programmed film screenings since 2018, including an eclectic range of single screenings as well as mini-festivals and all-day marathons. Since 2024, I have also coproduced complex film events and festivals as Cinemania Presents. In 2025, I was invited to present a session on programming archival genre and exploitation films at ICO Archive Screening Days, which brought together independent cinema programmers and exhibitors from across the UK. I am also a collective member of the volunteer-run Star & Shadow Cinema in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Here are some of the screenings and events I’ve programmed:
Cinemania Events
Jingle Bell Shock – Full Day Event
A celebration of Christmas horror films, this all-day event featured four films, a video mixtape of odd Christmas television footage, and a separate screen in the bar running a loop of Christmas horror trailers. We also built a “Grotesque Grotto” complete with a creepy Santa, blood-soaked sack of presents, and other props. Guests found a homemade Christmas cracker at their seat with a commemorative ornament and other treats.
Strange Vices and Bloody Blades – Repertory Film Festival
A two-day festival showcasing four films from the Italian giallo genre; included a video lecture from Dr. Damian Pollard, author of Sounding Out the Giallo. I wrote and produced a 20-page zine for the event on the history of the genre and notes on the four films being shown, along with capsule reviews of other recommended films and a giallo bingo card.
Slasher Summer Camp – Full Day Immersive Event
This marathon of summer-camp-themed horror films also included a decorated venue: dark woods, tents and other props (and a professional photobooth for commemorative print photos); camp t-shirts and merit badges; hot dogs, chili, and ice cream for hungry campers; a campfire singalong before one of the films; and a masked killer roaming the building, among other immersive elements.
Unusual Screenings
The Sensually Liberated Female
A guest-programmed screening of the campy sex-ed film The Sensually Liberated Female (Matt Cimber, 1970) for the Seattle Erotic Cinema Society, for which I provided a video-essay introduction on the history of the ‘white coater’ genre.
A Zombie Film for Easter
In 2023 I screened Return of the Living Dead (Dan O’Bannon, 1985) in celebration of ‘Resurrection Sunday’. Since then, ‘A Zombie Film for Easter’ has become an annual tradition at Star & Shadow Cinema, with volunteers and audience members eagerly dressing up as zombies for the occasion. I’ve additionally screened The Living Dead at Manchester Morgue (Jorge Grau, 1974) and Hard Rock Zombies (Krishna Shah, 1984).
Ganja & Hess
A screening of Ganja & Hess (Bill Gunn, 1973) with a lecture by John Cussans, author of Undead Uprising: Haiti, Horror and the Zombie Complex; the event also tied into a Haitian studies conference at Newcastle University taking place the same weekend.
Documentaries and Director Q&As
The Afterlife of Palestinian Images – Screening and Director Q&A
This event with filmmaker and scholar Azza El-Hassan included a screening of her documentary Kings and Extras (2004) alongside several archival films from the PLO Film Unit. I led a discussion with Azza following the screening.
Foragers
Screened in collaboration with Community Kitchen – a monthly free community meal – Foragers (Jumana Manna, 2022) combines skillful reenactment and documentary footage to explore how traditional Palestinian practices of foraging wild edible plants has been impacted by the Israeli occupation.
VHS Diaries – Screening and Director Q&A
A screening of the creative personal documentary VHS Diaries (Niyaz Saghari, 2020): Having grown up in Iran at a time when cinema was banned, the filmmaker traces how her film education was shaped by the illicit videotape trade. Followed by a Q&A with the director.
Collaborations with Universities and Other Arts Venues
New and Archival Palestinian Short Films
In 2018 and 2019 I produced two evenings of Palestinian short films, one focused on archival documentary shorts and another on contemporary filmmakers working with archival materials to produce new creative works. Both programmes were curated by scholars from the Creative Interruptions research project at Sheffield Hallam University. I commissioned new poster art for the screenings and engaged a local Friends of Palestine group to support the events.
John Akomfrah Retrospective – A Collaborative Cross-Venue Event
A collaboration with BALTIC and the Newcastle University Culture Lab: my component included two public screenings of Handsworth Songs and The Stuart Hall Project, to complement BALTIC’s exhibition of several of Akomfrah’s multiscreen works and an academic workshop at Newcastle University on archival documentary practices.
Newcastle University Online Student Film Showcase
In 2020, following the announcement of nationwide lockdowns to slow the spread of COVID-19, I supported graduating film students at Newcastle University to produce an online showcase of their thesis films. I helped the students organise their films and livestreamed the event using an open-source streaming platform, and followed the screening with a live Zoom Q&A for students and their course leaders, as well as students’ friends and family.