Poverty and Homelessness Action Week News Release 29 January 2008
For immediate release

Ken Loach to introduce It’s a Free World at special screening Film Director Ken Loach is to introduce his 2007 award winning film It’s a Free World at a special screening on Tuesday 5 February at the Prince Charles Cinema, WC2, starting at 6:30pm.

The event is being promoted by the Open House Film Club at St Patrick’s Church, Soho, a regular film club for homeless and vulnerably housed people in central London. Tickets will be available for £5 on the door, homeless and vulnerably housed people will be admitted free.

Loach’s film tells the story of migrant workers from Poland and other Eastern European countries in London, it examines the exploitation prevalent in the ‘flexible’ workforce in today’s Britain. The film won Best Screenplay award at the 2007 Venice Film Festival. The film will be preceded by two short films curated by Future Shorts and a question and answer session with Loach.

The event is being staged to raise money for the Open House Film Club. It is being presented as part of Housing Justice’s Poverty and Homelessness Action Week, a major campaign by a coalition of Christian charities -Housing Justice, Scottish Churches Housing Action, Church Action on Poverty and the Church Urban Fund.
Ends

Notes
The film It’s a Free World will be shown at 6:30pm at the Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Place, London WC2H 7BP (nearest tube Leicester Square/ Piccadilly Circus). Further information on the venue is available at www.princecharlescinema.com.

About Poverty and Homelessness Action Week
Poverty and Homelessness Action Week is a series of events to gather evidence and encourage reflection on poverty and homelessness in all its forms in Britain today. The Week is organised by Church Action on Poverty, Housing Justice, Scottish Churches Housing Action and the Church Urban Fund. The charities will use the evidence gathered to highlight poverty and homelessness with the aim of gaining commitments from the government to end poverty in the UK.

Church Action on Poverty is a national ecumenical Christian social justice charity, committed to tackling poverty in the UK. It works in partnership with churches and with people in poverty themselves to find solutions to poverty, locally, nationally and globally. It aims to: enable people in poverty to develop more sustainable livelihoods; give a voice to people experiencing poverty; and mobilise churches to work with others to overcome poverty. Find out more at www.church-poverty.org.uk

Housing Justice is the national voice of Christian action to prevent homelessness and bad housing; it provides frontline services to people in housing need and campaigns to improve housing policy. In total Housing Justice is actively involved in more than 35 communities across England and Wales. Further information available at www.housingjustice.org.uk

Scottish Churches Housing Action brings together the major Christian denominations in Scotland under the slogan No Room for Homelessness! As well as campaigning for the rights of homeless people, it promotes the development of local, volunteer-based, projects to help homeless people, and encourages the churches to make land and property available for affordable housing. Further information available at www.churches-housing.org

The Church Urban Fund is a charity supporting churches and projects tackling poverty and injustice in England’s poorest communities. Through funding local initiatives, sharing knowledge and raising awareness of social injustice, we work to bring about significant and lasting change. Further information available at www.cuf.org.uk.

Contact
Luke Evans 020 7723 7273
Email info@housingjustice.org.uk