Queen’s University Belfast School of Law, in partnership with Queen’s Film Theatre (QFT), is proud to announce the launch of Law on Film, a new annual series exploring the intersection of law, society, and cinema. The inaugural event will take place on Thursday 20^th November between 6-8.30pm, featuring a screening of Lizzie Borden’s groundbreaking 1983 film Born in Flames and a short film by Array Collective, An Mór-Ríoghain (The Morrigan).

About the Films

Born in Flames is a radical intersectional feminist docufiction drama set in an alternate socialist democratic United States. Directed, produced, and co-written by Lizzie Borden, the film boldly examines themes of racism, classism, sexism, and heterosexism, challenging audiences to reflect on systemic inequalities and the power of activism.

Complementing this feature, Array Collective will present 'An Mór-Ríoghain (The Morrigan)', a short film created during the campaign to decriminalise abortion in Northern Ireland. Filmed in London in 2019, the piece features material courtesy of Northern Ireland Screen’s Digital Film Archive and music by Dani Larkin, weaving mythology and activism into a powerful visual narrative.

Special Guests: Array Collective

As guest programmers for this inaugural event, Array Collective bring their unique perspective as artists and activists. The Belfast-based collective, winners of the 2021 Turner Prize, are renowned for their collaborative, socially engaged practice addressing pressing sociopolitical issues in Northern Ireland and beyond.

Following the screenings, attendees will gather in the Moot Court Room at the School of Law for a thought-provoking discussion on the films’ themes. The panel will feature dr Emma Campbell, Dr Laura O’Connor, and Dr Alessia Cargnelli from Array Collective, alongside Professor Aoife O’Donoghue as host. The evening will conclude with a reception at the School of Law.

Student Tickets are available here

General purchase is available on the QFT website

About Array Collective 

Array Collective, pictured at The Melt Gala, Ulster Museum, March 2023. Image courtesy of Array Collective and Chad Alexander

Array Collective are a group of eleven Belfast-based artists and activists. Together, they create collaborative actions in response to the sociopolitical issues affecting Northern Ireland. In 2021, they became the first artists from the north of Ireland to win the Turner Prize.The collective is made up of Sighle Bhreathnach-Cashell, Sinéad Bhreathnach-Cashell, Jane Butler, Emma Campbell, Alessia Cargnelli, Mitch Conlon, Clodagh Lavelle, Grace McMurray, Stephen Millar, Laura O’Connor, and Thomas Wells.Array’s Turner Prize-winning installation The Druithaib’s Ball was exhibited in the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, Nun’s Island Theatre, Galway and Ulster Museum, Belfast. Their most recent exhibition, The Goose and the Common (Red Rua, Dublin, 2025) upends the language of protest, surveillance, defence, and displacement, and instead invites the viewer to journey through a series of spaces where organising and collaboration are encouraged.Array's practice and programming are frequently focused on the art/activist axis and explores often difficult subjects with humour and warmth, and through performance, protest, mythology, photography and video.

https://www.arraystudiosbelfast.com/about.html

Biographies

Dr Emma's Campbell is a part-time Photography lecturer at Ulster University, her recent practice-based PhD addressed socially engaged practice as an activist tool for abortion rights. Emma has exhibited internationally as Array and solo and published widely on abortion, activism and art. Emma's current research brings creative methodologies to law, social policy and reproductive health and continues collaborative socially engaged practices as part of Array Collective. Emma is also co-convenor of Alliance for Choice, the largest abortion rights organisation in Northern Ireland and is a Board Member for Outburst Queer Arts. Currently she is working on a British Council bursary with queer artists from Myanmar and a Freelands Fellowship with Artist Teachers and the Mac Belfast. https://www.emmacampbell.co.uk/

Dr Alessia Cargnelli (she/her, b. 1990 in Trieste, Italy) is a visual artist and researcher based in Belfast and currently a Research Ireland Post-doctoral fellow at the National College of Art and Design (NCAD) and the Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA). Alessia moved to Belfast in 2016 to work as co-director of Catalyst Arts. She holds a PhD at the Belfast School of Art focused on Irish feminist-led women-artists’ advocacy groups, and she was post-doctoral researcher at the National Irish Visual Arts Library (NIVAL). With a background in artist moving image practice, subsequently informed by artist-led initiatives and collaborative productions, Alessia’s interests expand towards feminist-informed methodologies, self-organisation and activism. Alessia is co-founder of Soft Fiction Projects and a member of Array Collective. 

Dr Laura O’Connor is a visual artist and lecturer based in Belfast. Her work explores gendered representations in the media and within cultural narratives through the mediums of performance, sculpture, installation, video and digital media. O’Connor is also co-director of WANDA: Feminism and Moving Image, an organisation that exhibits moving image works by and about women and under-represented voices working alongside industry organisations and individuals to expose inequality in the film industry. 

About Law on Film

Law on Film is a new annual collaboration between Queen’s University Belfast School of Law and QFT, designed to spark dialogue on how law intersects with culture, politics, and social justice through the lens of cinema. The project is led by School of Law staff members Norah Burns, Marisa McVey, and Richard Summerville.

This event is supported by the Law School and by Film Hub NI through the BFI FAN Film Exhibition Fund, awarding funds from The National Lottery.