14 MIN | 2022 | DIRECTOR/PRODUCER: JOE INGHAM | UK | AUSTRALIA PREMIERE

London, 1966. Homosexuality between men is still criminalised. Women don't fare any better. A woman who is exposed as a lesbian can expect to lose her job, her lodgings, her family. It is a tough, dangerous and nerve-wracking existence.

But in one subterranean corner of Chelsea, society's rules don't apply. The Gateways club offers a safe haven for women to dance, express themselves and love who they want. Or does it?

Maureen Duffy published The Microcosm in 1966, turning her probing gaze to London's first and infamous lesbian hang out. In this searingly honest work, based on her own experience, Maureen examines if this gay bar, and those like it, really offers the freedom its patrons crave.

Fifty-six years later Maureen's words are brought vividly to life by two-time Oscar winner Glenda Jackson. Glenda, along with director Joe Ingham, draw striking parallels between the past and the present and explore the uncomfortable paradox that exists within queer spaces.

Screens with HABANA SHAKES