Working Class and Rising

The Working Class Film Festival is celebrating it’s inaugural year with a weekend of new and classic cinema made by those from a working class background. The weekend has been convened as a means of celebrating the talent and resilience of an underrepresented majority within Film and Television; with Working Class makers representing less than 8% of the workforce. The three-day event, which runs from the 8 - 10 May is a mixture of feature and short films from an international cohort of exhibitors. Sessions of various themes will showcase fiction, documentary and experimental work; with a remit to journey beyond the kitchen sink.

We are proud to show the historically important films Pressure (1976) directed by Horace Ové and Kes (1969) directed by Ken Loach. It is with great privilege we host an onstage Q and A with Kes’ very own David ‘Dai’ Bradley (the film’s central protagonist Billy Caspar). The widely acclaimed local documentary The Town I Love So Well (2025) rounds off our feature showings for the three-day event.

The weekend is keen to act as a learning and educational environment for those both in and outside of the industry, and we have a session for the eleven plus, with award-winning film maker Yorgo Glynatsis. This 90 minute session is a crash course in the film industry the process of film making, alongside a selection of films including Glynatsis’ own Koupepia (2025).

The weekend highlights the strength of the Working Class Imagination in the Working Class and Marvellous session which takes audience on a rollercoaster of a journey through genres and time; from a retelling of classic horror to dystopian futures. More grounded, and within the realms of the real, the Working Class Transitions explore the bitter and the beautiful at the edges of life.

The talents of Working Class documentary film makers are highlighted in several sessions and cast a wide scope in capturing the drudgery emotional and communal aspects of the Working Class Experience. Working Class Realities platforms the Working Class at play; from seaside resorts to swimming clubs. This Class Works explores labour and the environments of labour. Sunday also sees a curated series of experimental films by working class visual artists. Thematics for this cerebral session are brilliant and broad; infinite monochrome high rise buildings, to a musical movement involving a rubber chicken.

The Working Class Film Festival takes place 8-10 May at Showroom Cinema. Passes and individual tickets are on sale now: https://showroomcinema.org.uk/festivals/the-working-class-film-festival

By Elle Short, Working Class Film Festival Programme Director