Making the most of the festival’s location at Exeter Phoenix, the city centre’s hub for cinema and culture, FUTURES 2025 included a mix of films and performances. Each of these took different areas of research and brought them to life in new and creative ways, inviting new perspectives on this work.
Both days of the FUTURES Festival weekend welcomed musical performances and film screenings from areas across the University, including the Department of Archaeology and History, the Department of Psychology, and the Department of Geography.
On the Saturday, audiences flocked to the Phoenix’s auditorium space for a special performance of ‘Stories and Songs: Wills as Windows onto Past Lives’ with Dr Laura Sangha and musician Chris Hoban, as part of the Material Culture of Wills project. Bringing together early modern wills and musical performance, the event bridged the gap between the past and the present through a series of discussions and songs. Many in the audience commented on the “originality & talent” behind the performance, with one person reflecting that “The songs really captured the individuals’ characters & made me feel like I knew them!”
A closed event was held in Studio 74, building on an ongoing project that fosters connection between young Black people and Black educators around the South West. Attendees involved throughout the course of the project were invited to celebrate their work through a discussion and film screening created with local school pupils.
Alongside Sunday’s Pop-Up Curiosity Shop, the Phoenix’s cinema showcased an exclusive screening of ‘System Update: Reboot Our Future’, followed by a Q and A with producers Professor James Dyke and Paul Maple. Based on ground-breaking environmental research, the film explored pivotal questions around the climate crisis, and the future of our planet. Members of the audience commented on the pertinence of the topic, but also on the film’s ultimate message of hope, and optimism for a healthier future.
Check out our other blogs for more details of the 2025 FUTURES Festival!
FUTURES is a free festival of discovery which takes place across venues in Bath, Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, Exeter and Plymouth, funded by the UKRI.
