Beyond Babel Film Festival 2025

Now in its ninth edition, Beyond Babel returns to celebrate multilingual cultures and cinema as a space for connection and exchange.

Inspired by the biblical story of the Tower of Babel — a symbol of linguistic diversity — Beyond Babel is a film festival that seeks to highlight the richness of multilingual life, showcase a wide variety of films, foster dialogue on film aesthetics, and broaden the representation of multilingual communities on screen.

Organised by the FLAME research group at Manchester Metropolitan University, this year’s edition remains true to its core values: embracing the beauty and complexity of multilingualism; presenting transnational film productions from across the globe; and screening films that connect cultures through multiple languages.

This year’s programme will feature several evenings of screenings, a short film session for schools, and Q&A events. The selected films explore themes such as cultural difference, multilingualism, food, education, and identity.

The Beyond Babel Festival forms part of the contribution made by the **Film, Languages and Media Research** group to public engagement and lifelong learning in Manchester and the North West of England.