WOMEN AND WAR FESTIVAL Enters Final Fortnight at Frederick's Place

Women and War is a month long festival examining the effect of warfare on women worldwide. Bringing together an extraordinary span of international work, and performers from all continents, the festival will showcase cutting-edge drama, comedy, dance, documentary film and photography, drawn from the United Kingdom, United States, Spain, Iran, and Uzbekistan. Across the centuries, from the Crimean War, to WWII, through to the current conflict in Syria, Women in War tells the profoundly personal and yet universal stories of the role of women in war and the impact upon them during and after conflict, whether subjugated or subversive, victim or healer, protector or fighter. After opening on July 4th, the festival is being held at Frederick's Place - a historic building in the heart of the City.

Please see below talks, events and shows for the remaining fortnight of the festival.

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EVENT DAYS AND TALKS

FRIDAY 22ND JULY: AFGHANISTAN DAY

Featuring music, poetry, and excerpts from the book, Dispatches From The Kabul Café by acclaimed foreign correspondent Heidi Kingstone, and Heidi in conversation with activist and author Ahmed Rashid

Heidi Kingstone is a leading foreign correspondent and has written for some of the world's foremost publications, covering stories on human rights issues, conflict and politics and reporting from places as diverse as Afghanistan, Sudan, Iraq, Bangladesh, Mali, Darfur and the Middle East. Her first book, Dispatches from the Kabul Café, published by Advance Editions (2014) is a memoir of her time reporting from Afghanistan over a four year period, from 2007-2011. There will be actor read excerpts from her book, followed by an 'In Conversation With' session. www.heidikingstone.com. This date is presented in association with the British and Irish Agencies Afghanistan Group (BAAG), a unique advocacy and networking agency which supports humanitarian and development programmes in Afghanistan. BAAG aims to ensure that Afghan voices are heard at national and international level. Music and talks from Afghan women will be presented, discussing, in their own words, both their experiences in Afghanistan, and those of having travelled to the UK as refugees. www.baag.org.uk

Ahmed Rashid is a Pakistani journalist and writer born in 1948 in Pakistan. He is the author of five books including Taliban (2000) which was translated into 40 languages and sold 1.5 million copies in English alone and Jihad - The Rise of Militant Islam in Central Asia (2002). Taliban was updated and re-issued in 2010, the tenth anniversary of its publication. It has remained in print for the past fourteen years. His later book was Descent into Chaos; The United States and the Disaster in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia (2008) which has been translated into 16 languages. His most recent book is Pakistan on the Brink, The Future of America, Pakistan and Afghanistan.' 'Taliban,' Descent into Chaos' and 'Pakistan on the Brink' are part of a trilogy examining the war in Afghanistan and its regional impact since 2001. These books are on course lists at over 400 universities and defense colleges around the world. He has been covering the wars in Afghanistan and conflicts in Central Asia and Pakistan since 1979. He is regarded as one of the world's most renowned authorities on the region.

TUESDAY JULY 26TH: EXILE DAY - 3pm

Talks and discussions by film makers and refugees and the screening of the film, This Is Exile and the short film Hamsa

We will be screening of the film This Is Exile, and the short film Hamsa followed by a discussion with the film makers about their unique film charting the journey of a Syrian woman's first two weeks in a village in rural Germany. Productions: Sian Kevill and Julia Kirby Smith | Directed by the Emmy-award winning director Mani.

THIS IS EXILE is an extraordinary, intimate portrait of child refugees forced to flee from the violence of Syria's civil war to neighbouring Lebanon, filmed over a year. Their testimony in this film is a beautifully crafted microcosm of the human cost of the ongoing civil war in Syria that has forced over 4.5 million people to flee; half of whom are children. There is still no end to the war in sight. The film was the International Jury Award Winner (Documentary) at the International Human Rights Film Festival, Glasgow and the Amnesty International Award Winner at the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.

Hamsa: A Syrian refugee mother, Hamsa, and her family come to terms with their new life in rural Germany. Inspired by her story FoxWolf partnered with International Refugee Assistance Project and Change.Org to create a film and social impact campaign. Trailer: https://vimeo.com/159275035

FRIDAY JULY 29TH

Heidi Kingstone and Max Arthur in conversation with Frank Ledwiidge

Discussion led by Heidi Kingstone, Frank Ledwiidge, Max Arthur. Heidi is a war correspondent and journalist. Frank Ledwiidge is a former military intelligence officer and author of Losing Small Wars and Investment in Blood. Max Arthur OBE is an oral and military historian and author who specialises in first-hand recollections of the twentieth century in particular the First and Second World War. His most noted work is 'Forgotten Voices of the Great War' and 'Forgotten Voices of the Second World War' both in association with the Imperial War Museum

SHOWS

ARMY B.R.A.T.

Army B.R.A.T. examines the funny, poignant and unexpected stories of Robin Galloway. It explores the privilege, cost and weight of family legacy and her life-long desire to achieve a state of 'home'

BY MY STRENGTH

Kat wanted to belong. So she joined the army. After all, it's the ultimate test of who you are and what you stand for... Only in Afghanistan, it's not always that simple. Written by Bruntwood finalist Laura Stevens, this powerful new piece explores what it means to fight for your country in today's world.

INVISIBLE WOMEN

A thrilling tale of derring-do in WW2! Repressed housewife, Mrs Bishop, is just the person to help the Resistance. A storytelling tour-de-force Invisible Women is a funny, touching portrayal of one woman's journey into freedom and adventure, that's nothing short of genius.

MUNOJOT

For his new show, Munojot, Orzu Arts theatre director Yuldosh Juraboev combines classic folkloric songs and dances from all over Central Asia in a powerful retelling of the heart-rending story of Tulganay, from renowned Kyrgyz author Chingiz Aitmatov's 1963 novel Milky Way.

THE MASKS OF APHRA BENN

Its 1677 and an audience getting ready to watch Aphra Behn's The Rover are in for a surprise. For the show has been cancelled and in its place Aphra herself recounts the extraordinary tale of her time as a spy for King Charles II in the Dutch Wars, and how she became the first professional female writer.

NEPENTHE

An intense one-women show about Auschwitz's notorious Block 24 brothel

THE MARVELLOUS ADVENUTURES OF MARY SEACOLE

The fascinating story of the Jamaican-Scottish woman who braved he Crimean War to tend to wounded soldiers. Posthumously awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit in 1991, she was voted the Greatest Black Britain in a UK survey in 2004.

VALIANT

Chronicles a century of war, seen through the eyes of women across the globe. From victim, to perpetrator, to peacemaker, this critically acclaimed play take verbatim interviews to create a compelling portrait of what women do in a time of war, and explores how it has shaped their lives and subsequently our own. Adapted by the stage by Lanna Joffery from Sally Hayton-Keeva's book of interviews.

VEILS

Intisar, a veiled, African-American student, thinks she might finally fit in when she enrols for a year abroad at the American Egyptian University in Cairo. However the Arab Spring is about to explode across the Middle East, threatening to overwhelm the young American woman and her liberal Egyptian roommate, Samar. In the struggle to find their footing in this political storm, the young women find themselves on opposite sides of a bitter and dangerous cultural divide. Tom Coash's award-winning play examines whether the violent events leading up to the revolution salvage their friendship, or shatter it.

WAR BABIES

Kate is English. Louise is French. They were both born in World War Two. Their story embraces war and peace, life and death, love - and theatre.

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