School of Arts, Languages and Cultures

20/08/2026

Ai Weiwei Film Weekend Marathon

📅 Friday 21 August - Sunday 23 August
📍 Factory International
🎟 £3 per film / £5 day passes / Weekend pass sold out

Unflinching and ever more relevant, Ai Weiwei’s award-winning filmography fuses art, activism and raw documentary to map the fault lines of our century: mass displacement, state surveillance, censorship and the fragile spark of resistance.

Info and bookings:

Urgent, global and shocking, Ai Weiwei’s extraordinary filmography comes to Aviva Studios this summer with nine films in three days

30/07/2026

Rounding up our series of student short films 'You’re Not A Writer!' by Famke Cochran, Oscar Keen-Downs, and Tilly Edgar is the joint winner of the competition on the theme of imposter syndrome.

This well-packaged collaborative film is rooted in Manchester student life, with thoughtful direction, committed performances and effective comic cutaways that visualise escalating self-doubt. The film explores the concept of the inner saboteur, the shared nature of impostorism, and the ultimate decision to keep writing despite doubt. A thoughtful film driven by a trajectory from self-doubt to self-actualisation.

The series showcases a creative set of filmmakers exploring diverse student experiences of imposter syndrome and the broader impostor phenomenon. Through short film storytelling, these student films engage with themes of mental health, self-confidence, and self-doubt, offering creative perspectives on understanding and overcoming imposter syndrome.

Watch the full playlist on our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6wd3KyqJvmJq6ZbrseJug0NGfHe3Q116&si=CGQOc7udOLqunZdT

28/07/2026

Climate change is reshaping planet and faith.

How is faith changing? The Religion, Theology and Climate Change project investigates the theological views of Christians on the front lines of climate action, from public protests to persistent advocacy.

This film reports on some of the project’s findings, by exploring how Christian environmental activists and advocates understand their vocation, and how their views of Christian responsibility to care for a common home are changing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OY5nzNQG4Zw

27/07/2026

Introducing 'I Did My Best. Did I?' by Yejun Chung – joint winner of our student short film competition on the theme of imposter syndrome.

This brief but striking vignette focusses on the task of giving a presentation, a common student experience through which impostor feelings can emerge before, during and after the moment. It turns feelings of impostorism into dramatic action, with memorable imagery and words that come to life, neatly and cleverly capturing the tension between success and self-doubt.

The series showcases a creative set of filmmakers exploring diverse student experiences of imposter syndrome and the broader impostor phenomenon. Through short film storytelling, these student films engage with themes of mental health, self-confidence, and self-doubt, offering creative perspectives on understanding and overcoming imposter syndrome.

Watch the full playlist on our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6wd3KyqJvmJq6ZbrseJug0NGfHe3Q116&si=MrkEWMlepMuhrbXJ

24/07/2026

In her recent appearance on BBC Radio 4's 'A Good Read', Women's Prize judge and writer Cariad Lloyd chose 'The Others' by SALC Senior Lecturer Sheena Kalayil as one of her favourite books.

Listen to the episode here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002z5yq

Cariad also discussed the novel with actor, comedian and writer Sara Pascoe on their podcast 'Weirdos Book Club', available on all podcast platforms.

Harriett Gilbert is with a comedian and a writer to talk favourite books.

23/07/2026

SALC's Professor of Cultural Studies Jackie Stacey has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy, one of the highest honours awarded to scholars in the humanities and social sciences.

Read the full story:

Jackie Stacey, Professor of Cultural Studies at The University of Manchester, has been elected a Fellow of the British Academy, one of the highest honours awarded to scholars in the humanities and social sciences.

09/07/2026

The University of Manchester is proud to be among the global universities, screenwriting labs, film festivals and filmmaker programs partnering with the Academy’s Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting to help identify possible Nicholl Fellows in the 2026-2027 program cycle. The University of Manch...

06/07/2026

Annise Pomeroy's entry in our student short film competition on the theme of imposter syndrome is 'Fish Out of Water' – a striking film set in Manchester that offers a witty take on impostor phenomenon with sharp comic self-deprecation exploring feelings of impostorism from a personal perspective, with a highly memorable ‘fish finger’ metaphor.

The series showcases a creative set of filmmakers exploring diverse student experiences of imposter syndrome and the broader impostor phenomenon. Through short film storytelling, these student films engage with themes of mental health, self-confidence, and self-doubt, offering creative perspectives on understanding and overcoming imposter syndrome.

Watch the full playlist on our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6wd3KyqJvmJq6ZbrseJug0NGfHe3Q116&si=_aOeG3hkSxVOmdmC

02/07/2026

Our latest SALC student short film on the theme of imposter syndrome is 'Maybe It’s Not You' by Zhang Chenyang – a gentle film exploring experiences of impostor phenomenon from an international student’s perspective, with a comforting message for future students experiencing similar impostor feelings.

The filmmaker said: “Feeling out of place does not mean you do not belong. Sometimes, it simply means you are growing into a new version of yourself.”

The series showcases a creative set of filmmakers exploring diverse student experiences of imposter syndrome and the broader impostor phenomenon. Through short film storytelling, these student films engage with themes of mental health, self-confidence, and self-doubt, offering creative perspectives on understanding and overcoming imposter syndrome.

Watch the full playlist on our YouTube channel: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6wd3KyqJvmJq6ZbrseJug0NGfHe3Q116&si=ycX5fZZF2z9YS9NQ

02/07/2026

Internationally-acclaimed novelist Elif Shafak returns to celebrate her extraordinary new novel, In One Brief Moment All Eternity. Spanning decades and continents, from revolutionary 19th-century France to Istanbul, Egypt and Beirut, this luminous and deeply moving story explores creativity and resi...