Join us for an afternoon screening of two very special short films exploring the role music and art can play in the lives of people living with a brain injury.

By Feeling documents a series of music workshops led by Pat Thomas and Sami Fitzgerald with a group of brain injury survivors at Headway East London. The workshops encouraged group improvisation including experimental approaches to conducting and playing with singing bowls and electronics. These workshops culminated in a live performance at Cafe Oto in Summer 2022 which also features in the film.

Portrait of Tony is an intimate documentary about artist and brain injury survivor Tony Brooks. After years of drawing side by side, Zara Joan Miller captures how Brooks has come to articulate his experience through drawing. The film offers an insight into Tony’s world – from the daily challenges of living with a complex disability to his endless fascination with horses and Elvis Presley. Told from the perspective of one artist taking the portrait of another, Portrait of Tony is a moving representation of creativity, humour and resilience in the face of brain injury.

"beautiful, artful, and deeply compelling […] a very deft piece of filmmaking." – Colm McAuliffe