What went down at MUBI FEST in Manchester

At last weekend’s MUBI FEST in Manchester, the first thing you saw as you came through the doors of Aviva Studios was the tattoo station where you could (temporarily) adorn yourself with the names of top MUBI talent, from Jacob Elordi, to Sofia Coppola to Paul Mescal. But this was just one highlight from the two-day celebration of MUBI’s films, with screenings of Crossing, Gasoline Rainbow and In Camera stretching over the Friday and Saturday.

We started off with a Dazed magazine drop and mixer over coffee, so that the assembled creatives and cinema enthusiasts could meet each other before hurtling into the first talk of the day, titled “Life in the creative industries: Meet MUBI and Dazed”. The discussion offered the audience a taste of working in content and distribution at MUBI and events and communications at Dazed.

We then heard from the directors of all three films screening at MUBI FEST for the directors’ roundtable, hosted by film critic Simran Hans. Levan Akin (Crossing), Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross (Gasoline Rainbow), and Naqqash Khalid (In Camera) spoke to attendees about the fascinating process of casting for a film.

Our last talk of the day brought other behind-the-scenes key players out on to the stage, with panellists Owen Phillips, from the art department of Slow Horses and The Power, Emily Leo, the producer of How To Have Sex, and James Rhodes, cinematographer of Femme. The trio took the opportunity to speak to Dazed Club’s Jack Sunnucks about their work. 

In between learning about creativity in the film industry and beyond, guests got creative at craft stands, with screenprinting and origami, before heading up to the cinema to watch the films. Dazed Club’s Chanelle Johnson was there to capture it all on camera – see her images above.