LISTEN: Film festival in Lancaster area to show powerful stories of refugees

Thursday, 19 February 2026 13:52

By Greg Lambert @greglam72

Hit the Road will be shown twice at the Home from Home film festival

A festival celebrating refugee stories on film is coming to the Lancaster and Morecambe area.

The Home from Home festival will feature award-winning cinema from Kurdistan, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Ukraine, the UK and the USA.

Films will be shown at various venues across the Lancaster and Morecambe District from March 7 to 14.

The festival is run by the Sanctuary Cinema Club.

John Chell from Sanctuary Cinema visited the Beyond Radio studio to talk about the festival.

LISTEN to John Chell

The festival begins on Saturday March 7 with a screening of Culture vs War (Ukraine) at the Storey Centre from 2pm.

This will be followed by a Q&A with Liudmyla Sergiienko - Co-founder of KRYLA Culture CIC, Yuliia Ivanova - UK Coordinator of the Culture vs War project and Alyona Yavorska-Kaporina - award-winning film director, creative producer and BAFTA Connect member.

Capernaum (Lebanon) will be shown at the Gregson Centre on Sunday March 8. There will be a launch party at 6pm followed by the film at 7pm.

Capernaum won the Jury Prize at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival

Io Capitano (Senegal/Italy) will be screened at the Gregson on Monday March 9 at 7pm.

Io Capitano competed for the Golden Lion at the 80th Venice International Film Festival, where it won the Silver Lion for Matteo Garrone's direction and the Marcello Mastroianni Award for Seydou Sarr's performance.

Hit the Road (Iran) will be shown at St Thomas' Centre, Lancaster at 4pm on Wednesday March 11 and outdoors at Alexander Square, Lancaster University campus, at 6.30pm on Thursday March 12.

Hit the Road won the Best Feature Film at the 65th BFI London Film Festival, among other major awards.

In This World (UK) will be screened on Friday March 13 at Lancaster Library from 2pm.

Michael Winterbottom's acclaimed film, a Golden Bear Best Film-winner at Berlin, trails two young Afghan refugees on a perilous journey to hopeful asylum in England - a powerfully moving and gripping film shot in almost documentary style.

Flee (Denmark/Afghanistan) will be screened at 7pm on Friday March 13 at The Dukes in Lancaster.

The film was frequently ranked one of the best films of 2021 and garnered numerous accolades, mainly for animated and documentary categories including Best Feature Film at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival and Best Animated Feature – Independent at 49th Annie Awards, in both cases the first animated documentary film to win.

Finally, Limbo (UK), will be shown on Saturday March 14 from 1pm at Heysham Jubilee Institute.

The film was named as an Official Selection of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, and garnered several awards and nominations, including at the Cairo International Film Festival, the British Independent Film Awards, and the British Academy Film Awards.

Sanctuary Cinema Club is the dedicated film club for the Lancaster and Morecambe area aimed particularly at asylum seekers and refugees.

Their aim is to help asylum seekers and refugees feel connected through the club and through the films they choose to watch. They believe the club encourages friendships across groups as it brings together those seeking sanctuary, helping them to mix, improve language skills and offers a place of welcome and safety to those who are displaced and vulnerable.

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