Activists Without Borders : Film Festival
- Activists Without Borders
- 3 hours ago
- 2 min read
Join us for an inspiring day of films and conversation.
Day 1 - November 29 (1:30 PM - 6:30 PM)
We’ll be screening powerful short documentaries and dramas that highlight urgent social issues and struggles from around the world. These films have been carefully selected from thousands of submissions across more than 120 countries, including stories from Palestinian communities and the fight against deforestation in the Amazon.
This is the opening day of screenings, followed by a panel discussion and a chance to meet filmmakers from across the globe.
Schedule
1:15 pm – Arrivals
1:30 pm – Film screenings (with a 10-minute break)
4:30 pm – Panel discussion
5:30 pm – Awards ceremony
5:45 pm – Networking
📍 Venue Details
Reading Biscuit Factory Cinema
Broad Street Mall
Reading, RG1 7QE, United Kingdom
Tickets
Day 2 - November 30 (2:00 PM)
The Cost of Growth Film Screening
About the Film
The Cost of Growth is a powerful independent feature-length documentary exploring the hidden costs of our global economic system. The film connects local struggles against extractivism in Serbia, Italy, and Sápmi with broader debates on justice, democracy, and war.
Through intimate storytelling and investigative depth, it reveals how people across Europe are resisting destructive projects and false “green” solutions - while building genuine alternatives rooted in cooperation, care, and solidarity.
Key Themes
Who truly benefits from economic growth - and who pays the price?
The human and ecological costs of extractivism.
How the climate crisis is intertwined with inequality, exploitation, and power.
What an economy based on justice, democracy, and well-being could look like.
Why See It
This independent documentary challenges the myths of endless growth and invites viewers to imagine new possibilities for our shared future. It’s a timely, thought-provoking journey through the frontlines of resistance - and a celebration of grassroots movements shaping a fairer, more sustainable world.
Director Biography
Thomas Maddens is a documentary filmmaker and activist. After a decade of making crisis documentaries for organizations like the United Nations and UNICEF, and pioneering virtual reality storytelling to document genocide for Steven Spielberg’s USC Shoah Foundation, his work has continued to explore social justice through innovative cinematic storytelling—from creating wheelchair-accessible mosh pits in VR to filming and editing Myendo, a powerful film about reproductive rights and endometriosis that changed the law in Belgium. The Cost of Growth is his feature-length directorial debut.
📍 Venue Details
The Pavilion
143-145 Oxford Road
Reading RG1 7UY, United Kingdom
Tickets
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