The Old Oak (2023) // SJCPH x St John's Reading Group on Health Inequalities // Discussion led by Zina Al Azmeh (Syrian refugees) and Paul Bennett (mining closure)

Open to all, student pricing available. Film running time approx to 8pm Discussion to 9pm Tickets will also be available for purchase at the door, subject to availability. Tickets purchased for the previously scheduled event in March 2024, which was unfortunately cancelled, will be valid for this screening. If you purchased a ticket for the cancelled event and did not request a refund, your ticket will automatically grant you entry to this event. Please see our Facebook page for updates and directions within the college: www.facebook.com/StJohnsPicturehouse The St John’s Reading Group on Health Inequalities in collaboration with the St John’s Picturehouse invites you to a screening of The Old Oak (2023 short-listed in the recent BAFTA for best English film) with a post film discussion. This is the third Ken Loach film we have presented to widen discussion about inequalities in health. It follows I, Daniel Blake (2017 BAFTA outstanding British Film), where the austerity benefits system destroys the health of the working class hero; then Sorry We Missed You (2019 Gaudí Award for Best European Film), where delivery jobs with zero-hours contracts prove a tyranny rather than an opportunity, and destroy the health of an aspiring family. Now In The Old Oak, we see the late and harrowing sequelae of poorly planned mine closures on the health and wellbeing of a community. Do stay for the Discussion - led by our guest commentators – who are knowledgeable about the fate of Syria and its refugees in the poorer towns of North East England affected by mine closures in the 1980s, the impact on mining towns themselves of how closure was done, and the relevance to inequalities in health and the north/south divide 1984-2024. - For example, their analysis is relevant to the current challenges of decarbonization and to employment in Port Talbot as the coal powered steel plant shuts and the closure of Britain's last coal-fired electricity plant marks the end of 142 years of coal power in the UK. Premise: Pub landlord TJ Ballantyne, living in a previously thriving mining community in County Durham, struggles to hold onto his pub and keep it as the one public space where those remaining can meet in the town. The film demonstrates the impact on a previously thriving and tight-knit mining town, of the way that the mine was closed, and the impacts on health and welfare. Echoes of the collective community of the past become a noisy crescendo of dissonance but end in a new collective. The film revolves around the concept of solidarity, illustrated by the phrase "When you eat together, you stick together". Syrian refugees arrive in the town in northern England, devastated by the tragic collapse of a local mine. The village's dire economic situation worsens with the arrival of the refugees, exacerbating tensions between local residents and the new arrivals. But Ballantyne strikes up a friendship with one of the refugees, Yara, and both have stories of suffering and a view of community that bring them together. Information about guest speakers: Zeina Al Azmeh is a Research and Teaching Associate at the Department of Sociology and fellow of Selwyn College. Educated in Syria, the US, and the UK, Zeina completed her PhD in Sociology from the University of Cambridge in 2021 where she examined the role of exiled Syrian academics and intellectuals in civil resistance since 2011. Paul Bennett was educated and grew up in the coal mining fraternity in Colville, North-West Leicestershire. He has been involved in managing the closure of 3 mines with the loss of 2,800 jobs. He will lead discussion on the message of the film in relation to his experience of the impact of the closures on the local communities; and how this relates to their social, physical and emotional health and inequalities across the North-South divide After the discussion, a representative from Cambridge Aid (charity no. 204327) will be present to conduct a collection in support of their work. Cambridge Aid offers assistance to local individuals in crisis, helping them secure essentials during times of hardship. For more information about their efforts, please visit: www.cambridgeaid.org The venue is wheelchair accessible with space for up to 10 wheelchair users. Seating is padded. If there are any other access accommodations we can make, please contact us at: [email protected] If you are unable to make it and would like a refund, please contact us and we will process a refund for you. Please note that the refund excludes booking fee.