'Sorry We Missed You' - Transnational Conversations

Engaging in transnational conversations after watching Ken Loach's 'Sorry We Missed You.' Thanks to Nara Paixão for capturing this moment of our group discussion. - 14 October, 2024

I'm a happy bunny at the very first cinema session of the club I created at the Faculty of Education, screening Ken Loach's 'Sorry We Missed You'. - 14 October, 2024

Flyer inviting everyone to the very first CLAREC Cinema Session. I'm thrilled that my project has finally become a reality - 14 October, 2024

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I have always found cinema to be one of the most powerful mediums for understanding the world. When I was a member of the BFI (British Film Institute) and lived in London, attending their Q&As after screenings was truly inspirational. I still treasure the printed analysis of films they handed out to the audience—I’ve kept some of those pieces of paper to this day.

It’s been a personal project of mine to create something similar at Cambridge, combining film screenings with academic conversations. I also saw it as a way to bring more vibrancy to academic spaces, which are often soulless, unengaging, and, frankly, boring.

When the group of ten visiting Brazilian scholars arrived at the Faculty of Education, it felt empowering, as it gave me the perfect opportunity to move forward with this project. So far, it’s proving to be ideal, as the language of cinema is bringing people together—especially those who might otherwise struggle with traditional academic formats or the English language at Cambridge.

Our first screening was Ken Loach’s Sorry We Missed You, and it sparked incredibly engaging and meaningful discussions. As a Brazilian living in the UK for more than a decade, I chose this film to introduce my fellow Brazilians to the social realities of the country they’ll be living in for the next six months.

From this screening, thought-provoking dialogues emerged, touching on issues such as precarity in the gig economy, zero-hour contracts, and the dynamics of women and care work—both paid and unpaid—within families. We also discussed England’s approach to race, which is often seen as "post-racial," contrasting sharply with Brazil’s affirmative action policies aimed at racial reparations.