All Of Us Strangers (plus Q&A)
2023 | Dir Andrew Haigh | UK | USA | 105 min
Stars: Andrew Scott, Paul Mescal, Claire Foy
A special screening of Andrew Haigh's All of Us Strangers, a film beloved of queer Croydonians, not least because it was set and shot in the borough. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Croydon-born writer John Grindrod discussing the film and the many themes it shares with his new book, Tales of the Suburbs: LGBTQ+ Lives Behind Net Curtains. Discover stories of isolation and escape, love and community; and prepare to be devastated all over again by one of the great modern movies, back in its spiritual home.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with author John Grindrod.
John Grindrod is a social historian of modern places. From New Addington, he is the author of four books: Tales of the Suburbs: LGBTQ+ Lives Behind Net Curtains, Concretopia, Outskirts and Iconicon. All of his books touch on his beloved Croydon. He also runs the podcast Monstrosities Mon Amour where guests share their love of places everyone else hates. John Grindrod
About Tales of the Suburbs: LGBTQ+ Lives Behind Net Curtains
'A fantastically entertaining alternative history of queer life in Britain . . . The Guardian Bookshop
Throughout LGBTQ+ history, suburbia has been seen as somewhere to escape from: a place where heterosexuality rules; where difference will not be tolerated; where you'll never find a soulmate. But for many, those streets of twitching curtains and pebble-dashed semis were - or still are - a place to call home.
From Addlestone to Wilmslow, Tales of the Suburbs: LGBTQ+ Lives Behind Net Curtains explores the relatively untold twentieth century tale of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people in small towns and suburbia. Through remarkable archive material (much of which follows the fortunes of the Croydon Area Gay Society from the 1970s onwards) and original interviews, social historian John Grindrod reveals stories that are messy and moving, dark and funny, uplifting and extraordinary. Together, they reclaim suburbia as a space for all - or those that want it - where counter-cultural expression thrives despite the Neighbourhood Watch, and queer love and friendship bloom against the odds.