Refuge England

Refuge England


A Hungarian refugee attempts to navigate 1950s London with no English, little money and only an address on a postcard for guidance.

Director Robert Vas was himself a refugee from Hungary, having arrived in London only three years earlier when he received a grant from the BFI to make the film. Despite its slightly incongruous use of voiceover, the film was adopted by the Free Cinema movement for its stylistic contrast of contradictory images and sound and its focus on the dispossessed.

With its enquiry into themes that are just as resonant in today's society, and its uncompromising outsider's view of an inhospitable 1950s London, Refuge England is a fascinating example of Free Cinema. Director Vas went on to become a very important documentary maker at the BBC.


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From the collection

Refugee Week

To mark Refugee Week, BFI and Counterpoints Arts have compiled a collection of films that explore refugee experiences across continents and generations

From First World War newsreels to 21st Century online video, these works bear witness to displacement across the globe.

Refugee Week is an international festival of arts, cultural and educational events that celebrate the contributions and diversity that refugees bring, and encourages a better understanding between communities.


13 videos in this collection

John Krish's deeply compassionate documentary on the resettlement of refugees in Britain; made to mark World Refugee Year 1959.
1

Return to Life

A Hungarian refugee attempts to navigate 1950s London with no English, little money and only an address on a postcard for guidance.
2

Refuge England

There's something reminiscent in this home movie from the 1930s – with refugees escaping from a distant civil war to find safety in England
3

Basque Refugees at Stoneham and a Holiday to Lands End

Fascinating, sometimes harrowing record of life in camps run by international aid agencies following the bombing of Shanghai by the Japanese.
4

Refugees in Shanghai Their Life and Their Education

Heart-rending British appeal film for funds to ease suffering of China's orphaned children and starving millions after Japanese invasion.
5

Aid to China

Powerful newsreel images of displaced Serbians seeking help at a British military base during WWI.
6

British Nurses in Serbia

Scenes of panic on the streets of Shanghai as Chinese citizens seek protection from Communist and Kuomintang violence behind Allied barricades.
7

A City of Chaos

Belgian soldiers and civilian refugees gather in Ostend in early WWI, before evacuating to England.
8

Ostend in War-Time

How did Taiwan cope with the huge influx of Chinese refugees from the mainland after the war? This report explains why the island is a symbol of hope for all developing countries.
9

Formosa - Island of Promise

Powerful online video from a refugee NGO using ingenious film techniques
10

Let Refugees Learn

11

Class of '87 - Phuong

12

Impressions of Exile

13

A Place in Mind

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