12.00 -01.40

My Dear Theo Alisa Kovalenko 90mins 2025 Ukraine / Poland. An intimate, poignant look at the Ukrainian war through the eyes of a director and mother who takes up arms. As the battle intensifies, a missile disrupts the fragile calm, exposing the stark realities of conflict. Blending the perspectives of a soldier and a filmmaker, the documentary portrays the often-overlooked emotional landscape of war as love letters to her son. With gripping footage and personal reflections, it reveals the resilience and humanity that persist amid chaos on the front lines.

02.00-.03.30 Fundraiser Alarmphone *

The March of Hope Jim Kroft 90mins 2018 Scotland / Germany In January 2016 two friends set off to learn first hand about the lives of refugees in Europe. With a pair of cameras and a little yellow van, the journey would lead them from Lesvos to Idomeni and on through the Balkans. Set against the background of the EU pact with Turkey and the closure of the Balkan Route the film explores these events through the lives of those most effected on the ground. As such the documentary is a deeply personal and emotional perspective on the refugee crisis – but seen from the unlikely vista of a little yellow van. It’s story is led through the friendships made with refugees, and its subplot a eulogy to the work of aid workers, volunteers and locals – whose work is too often forgotten.

In an environment of fear, hatred and suspicion in Europe, “The March of Hope” is a celebration of everything which makes us human, and a challenge in film to the xenophobia growing in modern Europe.