Images by Liv Weremijenko

Diasporic cinema has long offered essential representation to communities living outside of their ancestral homeland. The word  ‘diaspora’ – from the Greek ‘speirein’; to scatter – refers to the idea of displacement, and encompasses themes such as identity, cultural heritage, alienation, belonging, and the experience of living in the liminal spaces between different places and cultures. It’s an exploration of people navigating their cultural roots and the new societies in which they now live. 

UAL’s Diasporic Films, a free film screening series held on Tuesday evenings at 6 pm at our own London College of Communication, brings films depicting these communities or filmmakers from them into the spotlight, sparking conversations about hard-hitting topics through cinema, which connects to lived experiences.

UAL’s Diasporic Films is a free film screening series held on Tuesday evenings at 6 pm at the London College of Communication

Recent showings include La Haine (1995), Bhaji on The Beach (1993), KNEECAP (2024), and, most notably, a Halloween horror series featuring two more recent films – Ryan Coogler’s Sinners (2025) and Robert Eggers’ 2024 adaptation of Nosferatu – with both exploring the themes of diaspora from distinct perspectives.

Sinners, a vampire-horror set in 1932 in the Mississippi Delta, focuses primarily on Elias ‘Stack’ and Elijah ‘Smoke’ Moore – two criminal brothers, both played by Michael B. Jordan – as they return from Chicago to their rural hometown. The movie engages specifically with African-American history, the Great Migration, and themes of racial identity, community, and displacement; all central concerns of the diasporic genre. The movie borrows cinematic techniques from the vampire horror and Southern Gothic genres, alongside blues music, employing them as metaphors to explore cultural belonging, trauma, and the legacy of oppression.

Throughout the movie, vampires weave in and out of the lives of the protagonists, embedding themselves within Black communal spaces and embodying the concerns of the diasporic genre. The story’s central antagonist, a vampire named Remmick, infiltrates his way into a ‘juke joint’ opening night by manipulating the local Black community. Although these intruders first appear harmless, they gradually begin to dominate and erase the characters’ community as the narrative unfolds.

Although diaspora may not seem as present a topic in Nosferatu, the movie addresses similar themes. Count Orlok arrives in 1922 Germany from Transylvania to pursue Ellen, one of the protagonists and his love interest. Here, displacement is presented thematically, with Orlok’s presence as a metaphor for cultural contamination and the concept of an invasive ‘Other’. 

Bringing these works into conversation, Diasporic Films screenings highlight how cinema can illuminate the complexities of the human experience. These films reveal that identity is not only categorised by the invasion of outside forces, but is deeply rooted in the history of a cultural group. By curating this selection, the club positions itself as a space in which diasporic narratives can be celebrated, and invites students to engage in open conversations about race, identity and belonging.