MAC Cinema announces 'Here I Am' film season

Midlands Arts Centre (MAC) announces ‘Here I Am’, a new film season celebrating coming-of-age stories from across four decades of cinema, presented in partnership with the British Film Institute (BFI).  

Part of BFI's national Rip It Up programme and delivered with Film Hub Midlands and the BFI Film Audience Network, the Birmingham season at MAC explores youth rebellion, identity and culture on screen. 

Part of BFI's national Rip It Up programme and delivered with Film Hub Midlands and the BFI Film Audience Network, the Birmingham season at MAC explores youth rebellion, identity and culture on screen.

Inspired by the evolution and energy of UK youth culture over the past 75 years – from the defiant rebellion of Teddy Boys, mods and rockers to the influential self-expression found in music, fashion and wider culture – the season captures the universal highs and lows of adolescence.

Here I Am at MAC celebrates working-class, queer, Black and British Asian coming-of-age stories from four decades of cinema, capturing the defiance, joy and vulnerability of growing up as a city kid in Britain.

The season has been guest-curated by Birmingham-born actor Enva Lewis (How To Have Sex, Your Fault: London), who grew up visiting MAC and nearby Cannon Hill Park.  

Enva’s handpicked selection features iconic and groundbreaking films such as My Beautiful Laundrette (1985), Young Soul Rebels (1991) and Beautiful Thing (1996), alongside new Birmingham-set feature I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning (2026) by Clio Barnard. Special Q&A events will accompany selected screenings, with further announcements to follow. 

David Baldwin, Cinema & Screen Producer at Midlands Arts Centre, said:

“It's been great working with Enva, who is a passionate supporter of everything Birmingham and especially MAC. The support from Film Hub Midlands means she has been able to put together a brilliant programme that covers over four decades of cinema – it also wonderfully disproves the theory that young people only watch films an algorithm tells them to.”

Enva Lewis, guest curator of MAC’s ‘Here I Am’ film season, said:

“A huge thank you to MAC for letting me be a part of something so special. I’ll never quite get over this place I grew up riding my bike around wanting me to come in and talk about my favourite thing...movies!”

To make the season as accessible as possible, all Here I Am screenings are offered on a Pay What You Choose basis, giving audiences the flexibility to select from a range of ticket prices.

MAC’s cinema programme has been generously supported by BFI Film Audience Network and Film Hub Midlands. 

• My Beautiful Laundrette (1985)

Sat 26 Sep, 5pm | MAC Cinema | 98 mins | 15 | Pay what you choose

This film follows the fortunes of handsome young Omar who, together with his white English friend Johnny, takes over a run-down laundrette. Against a background of racial tension and poverty in London, their relationship blossoms into love. 

• Rita, Sue & Bob Too (1987)

Sun 4 Oct, 5pm | MAC Cinema | 1hr 45 mins | 18 | Pay what you choose

A controversial comic drama about two adolescent schoolgirls who start seeing a married man with no initial concern for the consequences. Directed by Alan Clarke and written by playwright Andrea Dunbar, the film has 1980s Britain running through it and boasted the strapline ‘Thatcher’s Britain with her knickers down’.  

• Beautiful Thing – 30th Anniversary (1996)

Sat 17 Oct, 5pm | MAC Cinema | 1hr 45 mins | 15 | Pay what you choose

One of the sweetest of all gay films, Beautiful Thing tells the story of troubled teen boys - Jamie (Glen Berry) who is picked on at school and Ste (Scott Neal) who is bullied at home – who find love in each other’s arms. Told against a suburban London estate backdrop, it’s packed with wit, with a sparky script based on the stage play by Jonathan Harvey.  

• Riff Raff (1991)

Sat 24 Oct, 5pm | MAC Cinema | 1hr 45 mins | 15 | Pay what you choose

Fresh out of Barlinnie prison, young Glaswegian Stevie arrives in London and lands a job on a construction site. Life in the capital is unforgiving, but when he meets Susan, a struggling singer chasing her own dreams, he begins to navigate the brutal ups and downs of survival with something approaching hope.

• Young Soul Rebels + Q&A (1991)

Fri 20 Nov, 7pm | MAC Cinema | 2hrs 30 mins | 15 | Pay what you choose

In the days leading up to the Queen’s Silver Jubilee, the hedonistic world of pirate DJs Chris (Valentine Nonyela) and Caz (Mo Sesay) is shattered when a close friend is killed while cruising in the local park. The Black community suspect the National Front, but the police have other ideas. A landmark for Black (and queer) British film, Isaac Julien’s bold and stylish debut feature paints a convincing picture of late 70s London.

The screening will be followed by a live onstage Q&A with Mo Sesay. Hosted by Enva Lewis.

• Ish + Q&A (2025)

Fri 27 Nov, 7.30pm | MAC Cinema | 1hr 45 mins | 15 | Pay what you choose

In this powerful debut, writer-director Imran Perretta movingly captures the fragile threshold between childhood and adolescence. Best friends Ish and Maram’s lives are forever changed when a racially charged police stop-and-search shatters the bond that united them. In the aftermath, Ish must confront the painful reality of growing up under constant scrutiny.

The screening will be followed by a live onstage Q&A with director Imran Perretta and producer Dhiraj Mahey. Hosted by author Keiran Goddard.