Price
- Free
Length
- 60
New documentary and exhibition at The Dukes marks Refugee Week through film, art, courage and community
A new short documentary made between Lancaster and Blackburn will premiere at The Dukes on Friday 19 June as part of Refugee Week, alongside a co-curated exhibition bringing together artwork, voices and stories from people connected to ARC Blackburn and RAIS Lancaster. The project has been funded and supported through The Dukes Creative Futures. A new programme made possible and free of charge to local young people through generous donation from Banks Lyon Memorial Trust.
The film, titled Bless The People Who Live in This House, takes its name from Arabic typography written on the wall by Ali Tinta, one of the ARC workers whose presence, warmth and story helped shape the atmosphere of the project. The phrase became more than a title. It became a way into the film itself. A blessing. A welcome. A reminder that behind every headline, policy argument and political abstraction around migration and asylum are homes, rooms, families, friendships, food, humour, music, loss, waiting, resilience and the ordinary sacredness of people trying to live safely.
This is not a film about refugees as a category. It is a film about people. About the spaces that hold them. About the workers and volunteers who keep showing up. About the conversations that happen over food, in drop-ins, at art groups, in churches, in community rooms, in the gaps where official systems often fail to reach.
And, above all, it is about blessing the people who live in this house, whatever house that may be.
Join us in the Gallery from 5pm...
Alongside the screening, The Dukes gallery space will host an accompanying exhibition developed around the Refugee Week 2026 theme of Courage. The exhibition will feature artwork from people connected to ARC Blackburn and RAIS Lancaster, creating a space where visual art, documentary, audio and community memory can sit together rather than be separated into neat boxes.
The gallery will open from 5pm — come early, explore the exhibition, and enjoy food and drink before the 7pm screening.
The Bar and Exhibition will also be open after the screening for further viewing and conversation.
