Image: Barbican Centre, London
The Barbican will screen four films by artist and filmmaker Alia Syed, followed by a conversation with her. The programme is scheduled for Tuesday 8 December 2026 at 18:30 in Cinema 2.
The conversation is billed as a conversation between Alia Syed and curator Oliver Fuke. Spanning works made between 2012 and 2019, the programme offers an insight into a practice shaped by questions of geography, memory and the complexities of diasporic identity.
Working across experimental film and video, Syed explores migration, colonialism, identity and place, challenging conventional narrative structures through a distinctive approach to image, sound and time.
Syed was born in Swansea and works between London and Glasgow; for over 40 years, she has made experimental films that disrupt traditional narrative structures to explore migration, colonialism, identity and place.
The screening forms part of the Film London Jarman Award 2026 tour, which is inspired by visionary British filmmaker Derek Jarman; the award recognises and supports artists working with the moving image, celebrating the inventiveness and diversity of contemporary artists’ film and video.
