For the final event of this season’s programme, Other Asias and the University of Sussex presents: FEMINISTS, INSHALLAH: THE STORY OF ARAB FEMINISM (2014) Reclaiming a buried legacy, the bold, often-overlooked history of Arab feminism pushes back against the tired trope of feminism as a Western export. Exposing the paradox of liberation and repression this compelling documentary charts how as women’s voices grew stronger, so did the structures designed to contain them. LOOKING FOR OUM KULTHUM (2017) Shirin Neshat’s meta-cinematic exploration follows an Iranian filmmaker attempting to make a biopic about beloved, iconic Oum Kulthuom, only to find herself ensnared in the same patriarchal structures that shaped the singer’s life. Fiction and reality collapse, revealing tensions between visibility and control, reverence and restriction, past and present.

Safehouse is open to musicians of all levels to explore free improvisation.

Showcasing a selection of comedic short films from around the world.

For Listen Club #23 Will Montgomery will explore the rich history of text-sound interaction in radical C20 and C21 soundworks, with a particular focus on poetic constellations of text and on the cross-talk between score and poem.

A blend of virtuosic players & poets unite to create a unique & infectious musical & spoken performance. To raise awareness & consciousness for the people of Palestine. Beginning with soulful jazz, rock and concluding with spellbinding poetry.

Iconic artist and political activist from Somaliland brings her rocking band (members of Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp) to us for a night of grooving bangers that combine traditional Somali folk songs with heavy modern instrumentation. These are songs of celebration and dance, love songs, political demands and Sahra's voice deploys all its warmth, its ornaments, its mystery and its dignity in an unforgettable way!!

EP launch from instrumental outfit Hekatones: instrumental rhythm section performing original music inspired by ska, rocksteady, roots reggae and dub - with influences from jazz, folk and psychedelia. Hekatones will be joined by some special guests on the night.

Come for the disco, stay for the rave, be in bed by 10pm. YUSSSSS

Toad Lickers Film Club presents Penda’s Fen. Get ready to delve into the mid-century English countryside, summer 1955, and pastor's son Stephen must come to terms with his queer identity amid societal pressure, religious guilt and his own imaginings.

A unique night of films, talks and candle-lit performance themed around local rivers, magic, folklore, goddess worship, our industrial heritage and queer ecology. With David Bramwell and Vera Zakharov.

A trio of three acclaimed improvisors( saxophones, double bass & drums)

Support from In Threads.

Brighton EMOM brings you open mic for electronic and experimental musicians, this month with Mcloud +, Em Dash, and Zizo. get in touch if you are interested in performing, either via Instagram @Brighton_EMOM, or email us at BrightonEmom@gmail.com.

Landing on the moon and travelling through space remain awe-inspiring achievements, and are reflected here in experimental films, offbeat documentaries, vintage adverts and movie trailers. From Gemini and Apollo missions with electronic soundtracks, to space oddities and animations, prepare for lift off as Synch Pulse blasts its way across a galaxy of unusual and rarely seen shorts.

Debut UK show from Beirut-based duo Snakeskin, fresh off the release of their acclaimed sophomore album ‘They Kept Our Photographs’ via London’s Mais Um.

Hey everyone , we mean you! Feel the need to let loose, shake it out and party ?

Come and dance together with your community to the best selection of DJ’s in town. Rose Hill Dance Party is our new inclusive friendly night for moving to !

Comedy PowerPoint presentations from Chris Parkinson and Ben Bailey, taking a nerdy deep dive into the minutiae of politics and pop culture.

Safehouse is open to musicians of all levels to explore free improvisation.

Part 1 of 8 || Start the weekend at our Mehfil – e – Rose Hill experience with four distinct performances from seven artists, from the north to the south of South Asia.

Part of Brighton Festival 2025

Part 2 of 8 || You are invited to come and get to know some of the fundamentals of South Asian raag melody and rhythms. You will learn about melody, structure, form and mood pertinent to individual raagas.

Part of Brighton Festival 2025

Part 3 of 8 || Start the evening gently with a double bill performance by renowned 'Khayal' vocalist Prabhat Rao, who will be accompanied by Himmet Bahra on tabla. Jonathan Meyer, UK leading sitarist will perform a raga to the mood of the early evening. A sensitive and masterful expression of sitar by Jonathan, accompanied by the artful Denis Kucherov. Expect fabulous melodic improvisation by Jonathan and Denis’ mastery of tabla.

Part of Brighton Festival 2025

Part 4 of 8 || Get immersed as we go into the late evening with two distinct performances of artful South Asian sounds, led by two British women of Bangladeshi origin.

Part of Brighton Festival 2025

Part 6 of 8 || Be gently invited into the sun with the bansuri, bamboo flute of south Asia. A morning’s programme of bansuri, veena, sitar and sarod, tabla and mridangam – with accomplished artists of diverse backgrounds offering you a delightful way to start your day.

Part of 8 Mehfil events taking place at The Rose Hill for Brighton Festival 2025.
Multi-save tickets available.

Part 7 of 8 || Come and learn from leading exponent of Khayal training in the UK. Prabhat Rao will show you the fundamentals of khayal / ‘imagination’ singing - one of the main elements of vocal tradition south Asian musical tradition.

Part of Brighton Festival 2025

Part 8 OF 8 || Experience a true ‘Mehfil’ - a purposefully small intimate setting for South Asian classical music - where a musician and their audience aim to reach the ‘rasa’ – a state of engagement when they become ‘one’ in emotion and intent. Performance and jam session with Mehfil – e – Rose Hill artists: Guiliano Modarelli and friends 

Since winning NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest in 2016, violinist, singer and songwriter Gaelynn Lea has captivated audiences with her haunting original songs and new takes on traditional fiddle tunes.

A camp one-man Cabaret using the songs of Jacques Brel to explore the simultaneous urge to be, be with and behead powerful men...

Comedy PowerPoint presentations from Chris Parkinson and Ben Bailey, taking a nerdy deep dive into the minutiae of politics and pop culture.

Experimental film and video provides a platform to play with and reorder both picture and sound, by using fragments of pre-existing material to generate new combinations and meanings. Found footage from the amateur or commercial world is repurposed and reimagined, and regular soundtrack conventions are disrupted. This Synch Pulse will focus on a range of short films which recycle existing film and video, and explore audiovisual cut-ups and collage.

 Two duos from well-seasoned improvisors visiting from London and Hastings: sax and cello, and electronics and cello.

Celebrate the start of summer! Exchange your pre loved party clothes for a new (ish) outfitGet yourself some amazing new clothes while saying 'no thanks' to fast fashion. Join us for a Party Clothes Swap at The Rose Hill with Sew Fabulous and Brighton Fashion Collective.

Two trios featuring renowned players from Brighton's free music scene.

Brighton's unique night for performance makers of all disciplines to share work in progress and connect with each other

ERIC CHENAUX is a Canadian guitarist, songwriter, singer and sound sculptor. He has released seven solo albums of experimental song on the Montréal-based imprint Constellation. “This guys sounds like nothing else we had heard before - his vocals sound as sweet and perfect as Chet Baker mixed with Nick Drake and a bit of beloved Stevie - and a whoozy groovy guitar that draws you into a spellbinding deep listening experience!”

An evening of invocatory sound and song to herald the solstice.

Appearing in avant-garde short films far less often than in commercial mainstream cinema, there are nonetheless various examples of androids in offbeat documentaries and animations backed by experimental electronic sounds. For this Synch Pulse the focus will be on a mix of vintage and contemporary shorts where robots and cyborgs take centre stage.

Electric Jalaba explore the entrancing overlap between electronic dance music and traditional Moroccan gnawa with Lead singer Simo Lagnawi at the helm.

One of the original torch-bearers for the revitalized young British jazz scene, Led Bib released their twelth album in August this year. Previous Mercury Prize nominees and this newly down sized four-piece pride themselves on side-stepping convention with incendiary results, tearing apart the jazz world with their avant-jazz-euphoric-rock explosions of improvisation.

With her Right Here, Right Now Quartet Charlotte Keeffe enables raw musical ingredients and individual expressions to come together and flow. She is captivated by trumpeters like Jaimie Branch, Peter Evans, Tomasz Stańko, Nate Wooley and Lester Bowie, and inspired by abstract painters – referring to her horns as ‘Sound Brushes’.