About This Event

Join us for a rare opportunity to watch Hotel London, newly restored by the BFI National Archive, with an introduction from the director. Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre is excited to host a screening of Hotel London (1987), with an introduction from director Ahmed Alauddin Jalal. Set in Camden, Hotel London follows an unhoused Bangladeshi family as they navigate temporary accomodation and racial discrimination. Shot in a real bed and breakfast after months of on-the-ground research, the film features interviews from real women facing the housing crisis, as well as Jonathan Pryce as a rough sleeper. The camera traverses the borough and London itself, taking particular note of speculative capitalism that was transforming the city under the Thatcher Government. This screening features an introduction with director Ahmed Alauddin Jalal, one of the founding members of Retake Film and Audio Collective. As the UK's first all-Asian film collective, Retake was one of a number collectives that made issue-driven, activist work as part of the Black Film Workshop movement in the 1980s. This screening coincides with Camden Local Studies' exhibition From Sylhet to St Pancras: Bengali History in Camden, 1970-2000 (10 August - 22 September 2026), supported by Camden's Strategy for Diversity in the Public Realm. Image copyright BFI and Retake.

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Hotels within walking distance of Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre.

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