Listen With Your Eyes is an ongoing series of screenings for children of all ages and their grown-up companions. It’s a space where curious minds and open hearts can come together to explore the wonders of experimental cinema.

For this screening, Listen with your Eyes returns to A House For Artists in Barking with a programme of films that reflect on the power of care in the earliest chapters of life. The films honour both the labour and the emotional richness of looking after and being with one another. They remind us that care isn’t just something given or received, but a multi-directional, ever-changing exchange, an improvised dance, a story that’s always unfolding.

Please note that this is a relaxed screening, free of charge and open to children of all ages. Every child receives a free snack bag, if you have any allergies please let a member of the team know. All children under 16 years old, must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

You are welcome to join us from 1pm – 2.30pm for a free animation workshop before the screening. In the workshop we will paint directly onto 16mm film, using pattern and repetition to create moving images. The results of this activity will then be gathered and shown on a 16mm projector at the end of the screening.

2.30pm – 3pm
Film Programme:

The Demands of Ordinary Devotion
Eva Giolo I 2022 I Belgium, Italy | 12 min

Through a game of chance and fragmented encounters in Rome, The Demands of Ordinary Devotion explores the physical language of making and the uncertainties of motherhood, balance, and composition.

Furies
Sara Petty I 1976 I USA I 3 mins

Two cats move as one – prowling in tender synchrony – as Petty’s animation flows with lyrical motion and shifting perspective.

Fire
Lucy Parker / 2016 I UK I 6 min

Made in response to the work of British artist Annabel Nicolson, Lucy Parker’s Fire shows two women attempting to spark a fire through increasingly sophisticated means.

You Be Mother
Sarah Pucill I 1990 I UK I 7 mins

You Be Mother employs stop-frame animation to blur the boundaries between the animate and the inanimate, as a projected image of the artist’s face onto crockery transforms the tabletop into an enchanting magic show, hidden from the world of daytime.

Going to the Mountain
Jenny Brady I 2016 I Ireland I 10 mins

Through slow motion, repetition, and reflection, Going to the Mountain observes three pre-verbal children whose gestures and rhythms reveal a rich, non-verbal language shaped by movement and music.

Out-takes
Maria Anastassiou I 2025 I UK I 5 mins

Made from experimental multiple exposures shot between reels on a hand-cranked Bolex, this film reflects on light, colour, and the intertwining of creative practice and early parenthood.

Listen with your Eyes is organised by Open City Documentary Festival and co-programmed by Huyn Jin Cho & Oliver Wright – presented in this special event by Barking Community Cinema at A House for Artists.

Barking Community Cinema is co-programmed by Abel Holsborough and Maria Anastassiou and hosts free monthly screenings of independent, artist film and experimental work. They are launching a series of free filmmaking workshops and a network of community programmers in 2025, for people who live in or have a connection to Barking and Dagenham. If you’d like to get in touch please email: barkingcommunitycinema@gmail.com