Brighton & Hove Doc Club Screening: "Shooting The Mafia" plus Q & A

We're excited to launch the Brighton & Hove Doc Club, a new monthly screening series presented by TARA Films in collaboration with POST. The first six-film season, Photography Meets Film, will explore the relationship between still and moving image through feature documentaries directed by, or about photographers. The season runs from September 2026 - February 2027.

Our first screening in this series Shooting the Mafia (2019, Impact Partners/Screen Ireland/Lunar Pictures, Dir Kim Longinotto, 97 mins) is a documentary film about Italian photographer Letizia Battaglia and her career documenting the life and crimes of the Mafia in and around Palermo.

The screening of Shooting The Mafia on Thursday 24 September commences at 6.30pm. We will be holding a 30 min Q & A with Director Kim Longinotto at 8.15pm.

Sicilian Letizia Battaglia began a lifelong battle with the Mafia when she first dared to point her camera at a brutally slain victim. A woman whose passions led her to ditch traditional family life and become a photojournalist, she found herself on the front lines during one of the bloodiest chapters in Italy’s recent history. She fearlessly and artfully captured everyday Sicilian life - from weddings and funerals to the grisly murders of ordinary citizens - to tell the narrative of the community she loved, forced into silence by the Cosa Nostra.

Shooting The Mafia weaves together Battaglia’s striking black-and-white photographs, rare archival footage, classic Italian films, and the photographer's own memories, to paint a portrait of a remarkable woman whose whose bravery and defiance helped expose the Mafia’s
brutal crimes.

The film has won many nominations and awards, including the Audience Award at the 2019 Brussels International Film Festival (BRIFF).

Image: Child with a gun in Palermo, 1982, which appears in Shooting the Mafia. Photograph: Letizia Battaglia

Watch a trailer here: youtube.com/watch?v=bYoMqyOdR1g

About TARA Films:

Based in Belfast and Brighton, TARA Films is a production company co-owned by Kathryn Ferguson and Eleanor Emptage. The company was founded in 2018 with debut project Nothing Compares - a documentary about the artist Sinéad O’Connor. Nothing Compares premiered at Sundance (World Cinema Documentary Competition) in January 2022 to critical acclaim, and went on to win multiple international awards.  Recent projects include Blue Road - The Edna O’Brien Story (TIFF 2024) directed by Sinéad O’Shea, and short drama Nostalgie directed by Kathryn Ferguson, which premiered at BFI London Film Festival 2025.

Tickets are now available and may be purchased as singles or as a six-film bundle (10% discount).

Brighton & Hove Doc Club - Film Meets Photography screenings - Sep 2026 - Feb 2027:

24 September: Shooting The Mafia; 15 October: Black is Beautiful; 12 November: Mother Vera; 10 December: Love + War; 28 Jan: Shoot The People; 11 February: Two Strangers Trying Not To Kill Each Other.

We look forward to seeing all film and photography buffs at the Brighton & Hove Doc Club screenings!

Refreshments are available at all of our screenings.