The Manchester International Crime and Justice Film Festival 2025
May 7 @ 5:00 pm – June 27 @ 5:00 pm
Welcome to the 2025 festival sponsored by the Department of Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University and curated by the university’s Policy Evaluation and Research Unit.
Since 2019 we’ve had a consistent mission – screening great films which provoke debate and provide an alternative take on crime, justice and punishment in the 21st century.
This year’s programme brings you free films from three continents, in an eclectic mix of crime classics and lesser-known gems chosen by crime experts and film enthusiasts.
Our experts will be on hand to introduce their movie choices and to answer your questions at Q+A sessions after each screening. See below for the amazing line up of guests.
The Festival is supported by our partners:
- Novus, who provide education in prisons
- HMP/YOI Thorncross
- Instituto Cervantes Manchester
- Alliance Francaise de Manchester (Registered Charity n° 1068084)
- One Small Thing (Hope Street)
- Criminal Justice Alliance
- North West Film Archive
For the third year running, we’re partnering internationally with Indonesian creative artists and campaigners. This year we’re working with film-maker Tintin Wulia and historian Gloria Truly Estrelita. Tintin’s film A Thousand and One Martian Nights takes an oblique but powerfully moving approach to the Indonesian massacres of 1965 and their long aftermath.
Screenings will take place at Grosvenor East Building. East Grosvenor is the university’s Arts and Creative Hub; you can find it on the corner of Oxford Road and Cavendish Street, just five minutes’ walk from Oxford Rd train station. We also have a joint screening with our partners at Instituto Cervantes Manchester.
We look forward to welcoming old friends and new audiences alike, from the UK and internationally.
See you at the movies!
Your festival team:
Kevin Wong, Gavin Bailey, Anton Roberts, Katie Hunter and Phil Edwards
Upcoming Films in the Festival
ALL FILMS ARE FREE – BOOKING ADVISED
Wednesday 7th May, 5:30pm
Scum (18)
Director: Alan Clarke, 1977, 78 minutes, English
A no-holds-barred dramatisation of conditions in British borstals (pre-1980s young offenders’ institutions), Scum was made for the BBC Play for Today strand but banned before broadcast.
The film will be introduced by Dr Jamie Bennett from HM Prisons and Probation Service. One of the stars of the film, MMU alumnus David Threlfall, will also be in attendance.
Booking Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/scum-18-crime-and-justice-film-festival-2025-tickets-1268960768819?aff=oddtdtcreator
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Monday 12th May, 5.30pm
Million Dollar Baby (12)
Director: Clint Eastwood, Year: 2004, Duration: 127 minutes, Languages: English
HMP/YOI Thorncross Learners’ Choice
This sports drama puts the spotlight on aspiring boxer Maggie and her ill-tempered coach, Frankie, who bond over combat sports.
Selected for the Festival by learners at HMP/YOI Thorncross.
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Saturday 17th May, 1.00pm
A Thousand and One Martian Nights
Director: Tintin Wulia, Year: 2017, Duration: 39 minutes
A dense, multi-faceted short film, A Thousand and One Martian Nights takes an innovative approach to the buried history of the Indonesian coup of 1965.
The film’s maker Tintin Wulia will discuss her work and her personal connection with the Indonesian events of 1965.
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Wednesday 21st May, 5:30pm
Holloway
Directors: Sophie Compton, Daisy-May Hudson, 2024, 86 minutes, English
In this documentary, six women return to the abandoned prison to take part in a women’s circle and recall memories from their time inside.
Selected for the Festival by Hope Street, a pioneering residential community for women involved in the justice system and their children
Booking Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/holloway-crime-and-justice-film-festival-2025-tickets-1280698617039?aff=oddtdtcreator
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Tuesday 3rd June, 5:30pm
Je verrai toujours vos visages (All your faces)
Director: Jeanne Henry, 2023, 118 minutes, French with English Subtitles
Restorative justice was introduced in the French criminal justice system in 2014. Je verrai toujours vos visages is a fictional account of two very different initiatives. The film follows three individuals who committed theft and burglary being prepared for a group encounter with three victims of the same crimes , and a young woman requesting a one-to-one meeting with her absuer.
With Lucy Jaffé, Board Member of the European Forum for Restorative Justice.
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Thursday 5th June, 5:30pm
The Old Oak (15)
Director: Ken Loach, 2023, 113 minutes, English
Local tensions arise in a small town following the arrival of Syrian refugees in this gritty UK drama.
Selected for the Festival by Chris Parsons and Dr Julie Parsons from the resettlement charity Landworks.
Booking Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-old-oak-crime-and-justice-film-festival-2025-tickets-1280736339869?aff=oddtdtcreator
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Saturday 7 June, 1.00pm – 2:00pm
Community Policing: all things to all people? A potted history from the North West Film Archive
“Community policing – no-one’s going to disagree with it because no-one really knows what it means.” This is the starting point for this event, which marks a collaboration between the Film Festival team and the North West Film Archive, with advice and support from Will McTaggart from the Archive and Ian MacDonald, a former Assistant Chief Constable, Merseyside Police
Booking Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/community-policing-all-things-to-all-people-tickets-1280713551709?aff=oddtdtcreator
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Saturday 7 June, 2:30pm
Whistle Down The Wind (PG)
Director: Alan Clarke, 1977, 78 minutes, English
“It isn’t Jesus! It’s just a fella!”
Whistle Down The Wind tells the story of how a group of children in deepest Lancashire shelter a fugitive from justice in the belief that he is Jesus Christ.
With Diane Poole (née Holgate), who was one of the children at the centre of the film, and Neil Brandwood, author of a study of Whistle Down The Wind.
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Wednesday 11th June, 5.30pm
The Clan (15)
Director: Pablo Trapero 2016, 104 minutes, Spanish with English Subtitles
Argentina, 1980s. Under the deceptively calm gaze of their patriarch Arquimedes, the Puccio family live together, work together, kidnap together and kill together.
The Clan will be introduced by Dr Daniela Mardones-Bravo, Lecturer in Criminology at Manchester Metropolitan University. Daniela will be joined for the post-screening Q&A by Dr Gavin Bailey.
This event is hosted and supported by Instituto Cervantes Manchester.
Content warning: contains strong violence
Booking Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-clan-15-crime-and-justice-film-festival-2025-tickets-1280724524529?aff=oddtdtcreator
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Friday 27th June, 5:30pm
Le Havre (PG)
Director: Aki Kaurismaki, 2011, 90 minutes, French with English Subtitles
Playful yet tender, the film recounts the story of Marcel, a down-at-heel husband with an ad hoc shoeshine business and an ailing wife. Marcel risks all to rally his friends and neighbours to unite and help to protect a young African immigrant struggling to find his mother.
With refugee and asylum seeker charity Manchester City of Sanctuary.
Booking Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/le-havre-pg-crime-and-justice-film-festival-2025-tickets-1280776359569?aff=oddtdtcreator
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