🎬 Refugee Week Greece is thrilled to unveil the FREE Film Programme for 2025!
Curated by Other Cinemas in collaboration with Counterpoints Arts, Refugee Week UK is offering to us all, this powerful collection of films is available to watch from 16–22 June 2025, as part of Refugee Week’s international celebrations. We have also added a couple of films from Greece, in partnership with Pixida Films.
This year’s programme brings to life the theme #CommunityAsASuperpower through 5 moving short films ,2 critically acclaimed features and 2 locally produced films.
From first responders in El Salvador to the nostalgic healing of food and memory, these stories shine a light on the strength, creativity, and solidarity that emerge even in the most difficult circumstances.
📍Available for free and worldwide – you can watch from the comfort of your home or host your own community screening.
Thanks to Other Cinemas, there’s no need to worry about rights or licensing – all you need is an internet connection (and maybe some popcorn 🍿).
🎬 Planning a screening? We encourage you to open with the Refugee Week Greece intro film!
Before diving into the main programme, we invite you to play a short introductory film from Refugee Week Greece. This 2-minute video sets the tone, offering context about the festival, this year’s theme #CommunityAsASuperpower, and why these stories matter.
It’s a simple but powerful way to connect your audience with the wider Refugee Week movement, spark deeper reflection, and show solidarity with communities around the world who are using art, culture, and storytelling to create change.
Whether you’re watching with friends, a classroom, or your local community group – starting with our intro film brings everyone into the heart of the festival.
Refugee Week Greece FILMS
Produced by Refugee Week Greece by film maker Fridoon Joinda
Refugee Week Greece 2022, film
Refugee Week Greece 2023, film
Refugee Week Greece 2024, film
Films selection by Pixida Films
Pixida Films is a female- and migrant-led film collective dedicated to exploring and amplifying stories of migration through cinema. Founded in 2024, the collective operates between Greece and the United Kingdom, aiming to promote and celebrate narratives of migration to foster new solidarities across borders. By curating film screenings and creative events, Pixida Films seeks to challenge narrow rhetorics that stigmatize individuals with lived experiences of migration, advocating for a visually inclusive world .
The name “Pixida,” meaning “compass” in Greek, symbolizes the collective’s mission to navigate and connect diverse migration stories, particularly those related to Mediterranean refugee flows involving Turkey, Cyprus, and Greece . Pixida Films collaborates closely with filmmakers who have personal experiences of migration, ensuring that their voices are central to the storytelling process.
One of their notable initiatives is the “Crossings” film program, which presents a curated selection of short films depicting migrant experiences. This program has been showcased in events such as Refugee Week Greece 2024 and screenings in London, aiming to humanize the daily realities of migrants and advocate for safe passages in Europe and the UK.
Only My Voice’ by Myriam Rey
Myriam is a half French, half Syrian artist and filmmaker. Her practice focuses on using oral testimony and embodied visuality to explore themes of loss, belonging and memory. She has worked on projects involving creativity, wellbeing and communities for several years in the UK, France and Lebanon. She began making films while studying medical anthropology at University College London.
Myriam’s films have been awarded Best Video Poem at the Los Angeles Film & Video Poetry Symposium (2020), Best Short Documentary at Nova Frontier Film Festival in New York (2019), Honourable Mention at Sunderland Shorts Film Festival (2018) and the Inspiration Award at the AHRC Film Festival (2015). They have screened at festivals including Fisura Festival of Experimental Film, London Short FF, Aesthetica SFF and Alchemy Film & Moving Image Festival, amongst others.
Her work has been exhibited at institutions including the New Art Exchange, UK (2023), The Bomb Factory Art Foundation, UK (2021) and Sharjah Art Foundation, UAE (2020) and have also featured in group exhibitions, notably Images Festival, Toronto (2022), Warsaw Fringe at Sauna Space (2024) and Artist Moving Image Programme at Margate Film Festival (2021).
Myriam was selected as part of the BFI Network & BAFTA crew (2018) and was part of Bridging the Gap talent initiative (2017) at the Scottish Documentary Institute. Her most recent film, absent landscapes (2023), was commissioned by Film & Video Umbrella in London.
Download or Screen the fIlm from THIS link. (11minutes)
NILO BY ZAHRA MOJAHID
Zahra Mojahid is an Afghan filmmaker based in Germany. Her work draws on both personal and collective experiences to amplify the voices of refugee women. Zahra’s films focus on themes such as identity, migration, and women’s resistance. She is committed to telling the untold stories of women who are often overlooked in mainstream media.
Synopsis:
This documentary follows the journey of a young Afghan woman who was a Zumba instructor in Iran, where dancing is forbidden for women. After being arrested and humiliated, she is forced to leave. Along the way, she faces deep despair — but somewhere in the midst of displacement and loss, dance finds her again. What begins as survival becomes transformation.
Download or Screen the fIlm from THIS link. (12minutes)
FEATURE LENGTH FILMS from Counterpoints Arts and Refugee Week UK
Life is Beautiful: A Letter to Gaza, dir. Mohamed Jabaly (Running time 1h 36m)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqTlHyjR1xA
Where available to screen? Global
Category: Feature documentary
Synopsis: Exiled above the arctic circle in Norway and refusing to accept the boundaries imposed by international politics & rigid bureaucracy, Palestinian filmmaker Mohamed Jabaly insists on telling heartfelt stories from his hometown Gaza. Despite his statelessness and having only limited connection to his family abroad, he manages to channel support from friends and his own creativity, adhering to his motto LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL. And throughout it all, he fights for his rights with integrity, community, and a smile for the world
Audience? Certification: this film is unrated but would suit a wide age range (e.g. 12+ upwards)
Themes? Gaza, Palestine, War, Family
Fremont, dir. Babak Jalali (Running time 1h 30m)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObWrx064yzQ
Where available to screen? Globally
Category: Feature fiction
Synopsis: A moving and hilarious comedy-drama starring Anaita Wali Zada and The Bear’s Emmy award-winning Jeremy Allen White. Donya, a young Afghan who moved to Fremont, California after serving as a translator for the American army, spends her days working at a fortune cookie factory and her nights wide awake battling between her desire to rebuild her life and the overbearing guilt she carries within. In a bid to connect with the world, she sends an unconventional message through a fortune cookie.
Audience? Certification: 12A in UK
Themes? Afghanistan, Survivor’s guilt, Comedy
SHORTS
Nanitic, dir. Carol Nugyen (Running time 14 mins)
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/699623886
Where available to screen? Globally
Category: Short Fiction
“Nanitics” are the first-generation worker ants, who sacrifice their lives for the survival of the colony. These symbols parallel the lives of immigrant families throughout the generations. 9 year-old Trang starts to shift out of oblivion as her aunt Ut tends to Grandma, who lies on her deathbed in the living room. What will happen when Grandma is gone?
Themes? Family relationships, grief, childhood, death
Burnt Milk, dir. Joseph Douglas Elmhirst (Running time 10 mins)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vqh2e7NaL7g&pp=ygUSYnVybnQgbWlsayB0cmFpbGVy
Where available to screen? Globally
Category: Short Fiction
Burnt Milk is a film named after the common Caribbean dessert made by boiling condensed milk until it’s caramelized. In the film, this dessert is one of the few comforts afforded to Una, an alienated and isolated Jamaican midwife living in the United Kingdom.
Themes? Migration, Displacement, Jamaica, Food, Joy
Journey Mercies, dir. Tomisin Adepeju (Running time 15mins)
Where available to screen? Globally
Category: Short Fiction
Inspired by Adepeju’s own experience as a Nigerian immigrant in London, the film explores his parents’ unfulfilled dream of returning to Nigeria to live in the house they built. Captured in the nostalgic VHS aesthetic of classic Nollywood, it beautifully portrays the immigrant experience and the deep longing for belonging.
Audience: Family friendly
Themes? Nigeria, Displacement, Cultural identity
The Scent of Geranium, dir. Naghmeh Farzaneh (Running time 5 mins)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6zGKhaJfvE&pp=ygUdVGhlIFNjZW50IG9mIEdlcmFuaXVtIHRyYWlsZXI%3D
Where available to screen? Globally
Category: Short Animation
By using her own experience as an Iranian international student in the U.S., Farzaneh gives voice to the fears, doubts, and complex range of emotions that immigrants face and makes a powerful call for a more compassionate approach.
Audience: Family Friendly
Themes: Iran, Nature, Family, Compassion, Discrimination
Los Comandos, dir. Juliana Schatz Preston and Joshua Bennett (Running time 30mins)
Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEnlinlmOvE&pp=ygUUTG9zIENvbWFuZG9zIHRyYWlsZXI%3D
Where available to screen? Globally
Category: Short Documentary
As a result of extreme gang and police violence, El Salvador has the highest murder rate in the world. The emergency medical unit, Los Comandos de Salvamento, is one of the few institutions that is willing to take a stand against this reign of terror. 16-year-old Mimi, a high school student and volunteer paramedic, must decide if she will stay in the country or risk her life helping others.
Themes? Gang violence, Young people, El Salvador, Migration
Content Warning: Death, Violent Crimes, Gang Violence