Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology: University of Manchester

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Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology: University of Manchester

We're a teaching and research hub for ethnographic documentary, photography and sound recording at the University of Manchester

For the last twenty years The Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology at The University of Manchester has been widely recognised as the world’s leading centre for Visual Anthropology. Its graduates have produced more than 300 films that have been seen around the world and are regularly shown at international film festivals.

27/08/2026

Origins MCR hosts another fantastic short film night as part of Scene Festival! Luke Oliveira-Davies leads an inspiring Q&A with a panel of filmmakers for the Northern Shorts Showcase. 🎥 🌈

Tom Sergeant "Between Breath & Silence"
Nico Carmandaye "Lustlings"
Georgia Leigh Taylor "GOT GUTS"
Adam Ali "Hung Up"
Nathaniel J Hall "Acting Up! 40 Years of HIV Activism

25/08/2026

A sunny Manchester weekend welcomes outdoor cinema as part of SCENE LGBTQ+ Film and TV Festival August 20 - 27!

20/08/2026

The latest book in Manchester University Press' Anthropology, Creative Practice and Ethnography Series is out now!

Cinematic Nightscapes: Documentary and ethnographic filmmaking in Cuba by Eleonora Diamanti and Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier offers a journey through Cuban documentary films that engage with the night as a central character that shapes emotions, aesthetics and political expression.

18/08/2026

More from the exhibition at Manchester

The screening of 9 of his films will happen on 21-23 August, day passes are £5 and the weekend pass only £12!

13/08/2026

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11/08/2026

🚨 Our film of the week is "Those who have eyes to see, shall see" by Melanie Grant (MAVA 2019), an experimental, sensory and autoethnographic documentary on the religious practices of Spiritual Baptists in Trinidad.

They have a common saying “Those who have eyes to see, shall see.” This is a reference to their ability to see and access both the carnal and spiritual realms. This film explores this way of seeing through comparing the carnal, spiritual and ethnographic eye.

👉️ Experience the film at the link in our bio

06/08/2026

Some of the titles in the series Anthropology, Creative Practice and Ethnography, our collaboration with Manchester University Press

The series provides a new forum for authors and practitioners from across the digital humanities and social sciences to explore the rapidly developing opportunities offered by visual, acoustic and textual media for generating ethnographic understandings of social, cultural and political life. The series addresses both established and experimental fields of visual anthropology, including film, photography, sensory and acoustic ethnography, ethnomusicology, graphic anthropology, digital media, and other creative modes of representation. Projects in the series are offered in formats including comparative and general works, monographs, edited collections and audiovisual media.

They're always looking for new and innovative proposals!

04/08/2026

Our alumna Laura Di Pasquale (PhD 2026) will take part in the interdisciplinary workshop "Art and Brain Health" in Medellín, Colombia, on 12–13 August! 🇨🇴

This two-day bilingual gathering will broaden how we approach brain health across disciplines.

Laura will be facilitating the session "Ways of Knowing: Between Forgetting and Remembering", exploring the everyday, sensate, intersubjective acts of remembering and forgetting. Drawing on auto-ethnographic dialogues—combining artmaking, collage, and conversation—it will investigate in practice how co-creative ethnographic methods may help us research, navigate and express life’s shifts, embodied ways of knowing, ultimately answering the existential question: “Who am I?”

Programme linked in our bio

30/07/2026

A very cool piece of gear that is available here at the Granada Centre for Visual Anthropology is a 7.1 Genelec speaker array that allows us to install spatial sound works in venues of the right size.

In addition to the speakers and subwoofer, the kit comes with an audio interface, cables and a calibration microphone to adapt the system to each room via Genelec's GLM software.

In the first two pics, the speakers in action at Anthony Burgess Foundation in Manchester, playing a piece by Cucusonic and Studio Mécanique. In pics 3 and 4, the installation Constellations of Care by Shawn Stephen (MAVA 2021) at Lowry in Salford.

28/07/2026

🚨 Our film of the week is 'Sahan Shakti (Fortitude)' by Chandni Brown, an award-winning first documentary on migration, gender and arranged marriage.

Marriages can be arranged, but so can divorces. Hina is a wife, mother and ‘twice migrant.’ For the past 38 years, she has dedicated herself to becoming the ‘perfect Indian wife.’ But after a lifetime of trying, she is now ready to find out who she really is. Sahan Shakti follows the life of Hina, as she begins to rebuild her life post-divorce. The film offers a quiet contemplation on the South Asian diaspora in the UK, including the expectations and roles placed upon women. Working with her mother and grandmother, Chandni delves into her own family experiences and intergenerational relationships to highlight the complex identities of transnational migrants, the need for belonging and the pressure to conform.

Shortlisted for Grierson Trust Student Award 2024
Best First Time Director at International Istanbul Short Film & the Writer’s Journey Festival 2024
Honourable Mention at Society for Visual Anthropology Film and Media Festival 2024
Honourable Mention at The Big Syn International Film Festival 2023

🎬️ Watch at the link in our bio!

Address

Arthur Lewis Building, University Of Manchester, Oxford Road
Manchester
M139PL

Website

https://granadacentre.co.uk/links/

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