Nightcleaners + Q&A

Name: Nightcleaners + Q&A
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2025-12-10
Duration: 1 h 30 min

This screening will be followed by a hybrid panel discussion featuring members of the Berwick Street Collective. We will be joined in person by Humphrey Trevelyan, and via zoom: James Scott and artist Mary Kelly (who was also a member of the Cleaners Action Group). 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of Nightcleaners (Part 1) (1975) by the Berwick Street Collective, and <a href="https://www.filmhouse.org.uk/cinetopiadoc/">Cinetopia:DOC</a> are proud to host this premiere screening of the documentary in Edinburgh, marking the start of a series of 50th anniversary activities being programmed by moving image arts organisation LUX. Nightcleaners (Part 1) captures the struggles of women working as night cleaners in London’s office buildings during the early 1970s and their early attempts to unionise. The film documents their efforts and the broader campaign to improve their working conditions, invisible labour both low-paid and isolated. Rather than follow a conventional narrative, the filmmakers employ a fragmented, experimental style that reflects the complexity and disorientation of political struggle. This approach challenges viewers to engage critically, not passively, with both the subject matter and the medium itself. Cinetopia:DOC is a monthly documentary club bringing audiences together to watch, discuss and connect around the documentary genre and craft. We screen exceptional documentary films alongside filmmaker Q&As or conversations as well as offer a space afterwards for continued discussion and networking in the Filmhouse Bar. Cinetopia:DOC is supported by Film Hub Scotland, part of the BFI's Film Audience Network, and funded by Screen Scotland and National Lottery funding from the BFI and the Scottish Documentary Institute and produced by Cinetopia, a hub of activity around filmgoing and filmmaking based in Edinburgh. <a href="www.cinetopia.co.uk/doc">www.cinetopia.co.uk/doc</a>DocumentaryPT1H30M12A2025-12-10

James Scott

Mary Kelly

Marc Karlin

Humphry Trevelyan

Nightcleaners + Q&A"Nightcleaners + Q&A"

Showtimes

December 10, 6:00 pm