In 2005, the Belfast Film Festival curated a series of screenings and commissioned a publication on racism in Belfast.
This was in response to multiple media outlets describing the city as ‘the most racist’ in the world, and was an attempt to understand how cinema and the moving image can be intertwined with race and racism. 20 years have passed and the world is almost unrecognisable.
The advent of social media and the blurred lines of news and fake news has created an environment in which racist pogroms can be incited through AI-generated posts. When the moving image is being manipulated to manipulate others, how can cinema be used to combat this hatred? This panel discussion brings together activists, community workers and film scholars to discuss the question posed and how cinema might fill a vacuum, on a community level, where our own political system has failed.
Taking part in the panel will be:
Dr Kim-Marie Spence (QUB)
Kim-Marie’s research focus is Non-West cultural industries and cultural policy with a focus on reggae/dancehall and K-pop. Her focus is regarding the political economy of cultural industries, with a focus on nationlity, location and race. Likewise, she has an interest in creative city policies, given the urban focus and locus of creative industries. Her work links work in cultural and arts management, cultural policy, music industry, cultural labour, and decoloniality.
Kim-Marie has significant experience in the international arts and cultural sector and cultural policy. She was previously Film Commissioner/Head of Creative Industries of Jamaica. Additionally, she has consulted and worked in Australia, Jamaica, the UK, and India ( in addition to her own personal experience of living in 11 countries) – which serves to inform her world perspective on the cultural indsutries and the importance of positionality, location and the North-South spectrum in this scholarship. She is also currently Advisory Board member of the Journal of Cultural Economy
Dr Elspeth Vischer
Dr Elspeth Vischer is a filmmaker, writer and project coordinator based in Belfast.
Elspeth runs the production company Vish Films and specialises in making non-fiction and experimental work concerned with counter-hegemonic perspectives. To date Elspeth has had films screened at international festivals including Docs Ireland, Gaze, Silver Wave, Canada and RVK Feminist, Reykjavik. Elspeth completed a Creative Practice PhD at Queen’s University in 2023 and has been published in numerous academic journals. Elspeth coordinated the Northern Ireland Now Project with Nerve Centre and Northern Ireland Screen between October 2023 – July 2026. This project aimed to diversify the Digital Film Archive through collaborative community engagement across Belfast and the North of Ireland. From August 2026 Elspeth has been a part of the Belfast Stories team working as a Coordinator to bring community engagement and story gathering to this large scale screen centre, creative space and visitor hub due to open in Belfast 2030.
Tabassum Islam Susmi
Tabassum Islam is a PhD researcher at Ulster University, studying South Asian women’s participation in the UK film industry. Working as a film programmer across Bangladesh, Netherlands, Scotland and Northern Ireland, she has delivered more than 25+ community film screenings in the past three years, driven by a commitment to making cinema more accessible for the underserved audience. This has led to roles including Sparks Programmer at Belfast Film Festival and, currently, Project Facilitator for Spotlight NW at the Nerve Centre. She also hosts Conversations Across Borders, a podcast featuring South Asian film talent from around the world.
Claire Mullaly
Claire Mullaly is a film and borders researcher. Her fields of research are censorship, identities, and the role of cinema as the alternative public sphere in activism and resistance.
Venue Information:
Black Box
18 – 22 Hill Street, Belfast, BT1 2LA
- Wheelchair accessible
- Level access
- Automatic or power-assisted doors at the entrance
- Entry & exit well lit
- Drop bar available
- Hearing loop
- Accessible bathroom
The nearest Changing Places toilet is in Castle Court Shopping Centre. It is open from 9am – 6pm.
Note: The entrance to the Black Box is located on a cobblestone road. Vehicle access is available by request to the venue, otherwise the street is pedestrianised.
Transport information:
The closest bus stop is Lower Donegall Street.
The closest train station is Grand Central Station (20 minute walk or a 12 minute bus).