GRAMNet Film Series

I am Kuba
Norway (2015) | Director: Åse Svenheim Drivenes | 55 mins

When their family business goes bankrupt Kuba (12) and Mikołaj’s (8) parents are forced to leave Poland to find work abroad. Kuba and Mikolaj stay behind in Poland until their parents find a solution to their problems.

Kuba is a responsible big brother. He cooks, picks up his brother from school and makes sure they go to bed at a reasonable time, but time goes by and the responsibility at home is becoming more challenging. On the phone from Vienna, his mother promises that they will be re-united soon, but Kuba starts doubting his mum’s promises.

Kuba’s story is also the story about modern Europe. It is estimated that there are more than a million euro¬orphans in Eastern Europe, left by their parents who are forced to move to Western Europe to find work. ‘I am Kuba’ is an intimate film about the human cost of the free movement of labour, told from a child’s perspective.

For Ailsa
Scotland (2015) | Produced by Ima Jackson, Rachel Lowther and Anne-Marie Copestake | 20 mins

Professor Ailsa McKay was a feminist economist, who worked with others to evidence and articulate a radical economic model that recognises all work paid and unpaid. Ailsa died on the 5th March 2014.

This short film set out to record the impression Ailsa made on those who hardly knew nor worked with her, but who were captivated by her vision after hearing her speak. Ima Jackson will be present at the screening and will talk about links between Ailsa’s work, especially in terms of the impacts she made on policy and practice, and GRAMNet’s focus on migration, asylum and refugee issues.