At Home in Hackney: Portrait of Kaye + Q&A

After the screening we'll be joined by director Ben Reed for a Q&A.

Screening alongside the 'At Home in Hackney' photography exhibition, all of the films in this programme celebrate representations of the borough of Hackney on screen, from independent documentaries and short films, to Hollywood blockbusters, all using Hackney as a filming location.

Restricted by her lifelong agoraphobia, Kaye has spent most of her life within the four walls of her parents’ house. Finding relief from her fears in the faces and lives of old film stars, she pastes their images alongside those of her deceased family on the walls of her house, creating a kaleidoscopic collage that mixes personal history with Hollywood fantasy. Told first-hand via freewheeling monologues, Portrait of Kaye is a bittersweet portrait of a woman forming her own unique identity while navigating the conflicting influences of her mother’s bawdy humour and her father’s anxieties. Now 74 and recently widowed, her infatuation with a younger neighbour gives her an opportunity to explore personal and sexual freedoms that have always been hidden away.

'At Home in Hackney' is a collaboration between Hackney Museum, East London Photographers Collective and East End Archive. See the exhibition for free at Hackney Museum and Hackney Picturehouse.