Screening: Hotel London (1987) + Director's Introduction

Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre is excited to host a screening of Hotel London (1987), with an introduction from director Ahmed Alauddin Jalal.

Set in Camden, Hotel London follows an unhoused Bangladeshi family as they navigate temporary accommodation and racial discrimination. Shot in a real bed and breakfast after months of on-the-ground research, the film features interviews from real women facing the housing crisis, as well as Jonathan Pryce as a rough sleeper.

This screening features an introduction with director Ahmed Alauddin Jalal, one of the founding members of Retake Film and Audio Collective. As the UK's first all-Asian film collective, Retake was one of a number collectives that made issue-driven, activist work as part of the Black Film Workshop movement in the 1980s.

This screening coincides with Camden Local Studies' exhibition From Sylhet to St Pancras: Bengali History in Camden, 1970-2000 (10 August - 22 September 2026), supported by Camden's Strategy for Diversity in the Public Realm.

Image copyright BFI and Retake.