Bradford: A City of Film

Jacobs Well is a Bradford landmark, but it’s not one you’ll find in any guidebook. Fast approaching its 200th birthday, this storied city-centre pub has watched Bradford change and grow around it. But time stands still in the Well, as it does in all the best pubs, and the regulars aren’t in any hurry to face the future…

A Bunch of Amateurs, Kim Hopkins’ previous film, followed the members of Bradford Movie Makers as they fought to keep their cherished club from collapse. Now, Hopkins is turning her lens to another band of Bradfordians outside the mainstream in a film that pays affectionate tribute to community, humanity and the great British pub.

The Local is supported by Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture. The film is currently in development – check back next year for news of screenings in Bradford and beyond.

Bradford 2025 is hugely proud to be supporting the debut feature by Bradford-born writer–director Jack King. The Ceremony is a powerfully atmospheric road drama that received its world premiere in August 2024 at the Edinburgh International Film Festival – where it won the inaugural Sean Connery Prize for Feature Filmmaking Excellence.

When young asylum-seeker Nassar (Mo’min Swaitat) commits suicide on car wash grounds, two migrant workers (Tudor Cucu-Dumitrescu and Erdal Yıldız) agree to bury his body in the nearby hills. Conflicted by their different opinions on the man’s death, the two men head out on a journey like no other – a spiritual reckoning with their lives, with each other and with the mystery of the landscape.

Beautifully shot in black-and-white, The Ceremony is set for further screenings in Bradford and beyond during 2025. Check back for more details – and visit ceremonyfilm.co.uk.

Bradford 2025 is supporting the first feature film by Dominic Leclerc, the Bradford-born and Bradford-based director of Sex Education, Skins, The Teacher and other acclaimed TV dramas. Flesh and Flamingos reveals the hidden history of northern queer culture through the photographers who bravely caught it on camera – particularly the pioneering work of Yorkshire photographer Stuart Linden Rhodes, who celebrated northern queer life in all its glory.

Persecuted, demonised, criminalised – the ’80s and ’90s was a turbulent era for the UK’s gay community. Homophobia was not only prevalent across society: it was also legitimised by Section 28, government legislation to outlaw the so-called ‘promotion of homosexuality’ by local councils. The queer community faced constant discrimination – but they also faced it down with defiance, solidarity and pride.

Flesh and Flamingos sees director Dominic Leclerc explore this world, which shaped him as a young queer man: the prejudice he faced, the community he found, and the photographers whose work documented and celebrated the thrilling northern queer culture that thrived against the odds.

Produced by the BAFTA-nominated, BIFA-winning Ameenah Ayub Allen (Rocks, Ali & Ava, The Arbor), Flesh and Flamingos is scheduled to go into production during 2025 – and we’ll bring you updates as the work progresses.

Writer–Director: Dominic Leclerc
Producer: Ameenah Ayub Allen