Special screening of 'Imitation of Life' & conversation with Ellen E Jones & Rhianna Dhillon, Monday 27 October, Barbican
Imitation of Life (12) ScreenTalk, Book Signing & Reception:
Monday 27th October, 7pm
Barbican Cinema 1
Standard ticket price: £13
The Foundation is delighted to be collaborating with the Barbican to present an evening celebrating the winner of this year’s Moving Image Book Award, Ellen E Jones.
Join us for a special screening of ‘Imitation of Life’ (1959, Dir. Douglas Sirk). The film will be followed by a conversation with Ellen E Jones, winner of the 2025 Kraszna-Krausz Moving Image Book Award, and Rhianna Dhillon
Douglas Sirk’s 1959 masterpiece ‘Imitation of Life’ centres on the relationship between two single mothers, Lora (Lana Turner) and Annie (Juanita Moore), whose lives become deeply intertwined after a chance encounter.
The film contrasts their experiences: Turner plays an aspiring white actress whose daughter (Sandra Dee) is navigating her first crush, while Moore portrays a Black woman whose light-skinned daughter (Susan Kohner) is attempting to pass as white.
Through their intersecting lives, Sirk explores themes of race, class, and gender, using the framework of melodrama to present a poignant counterpoint to the ideals of 1950s suburban America.
Following the screening, Ellen E Jones will be in conversation with Rhianna Dhillon to discuss the themes and ideas explored in both the film and Ellen’s book.
After the event, audience members will be invited to the cinema foyer for a wine reception and book signing.
“Under the bold title of Ellen E. Jones’ new publication lies a fascinating discussion of racial representation in the two most powerful forms of mass media communication. It’s a highly accessible, gripping and inspiring book that tackles racism with passion and wit.”
Dr Kim Knowles, 2025 Award Judge
Find out more about the 2025 Book Award winners here.
Ellen E Jones is the Kraszna-Krausz Prize-winning author of Screen Deep: How Film and TV Can Solve Racism and Save the World (Faber, 2024) and co-host of the BBC’s flagship film and TV programme, Screenshot, on BBC Radio 4, for which she was named ‘Presenter of The Year, 2025’ by the Broadcasting Press Guild. She writes regularly for newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, The Observer, Empire, Elle and Esquire. Recent interviewees include Spike Lee, Mike Leigh, Amy Adams, Sir Steve McQueen and Cynthia Erivo. Her former roles include TV critic at The Independent, columnist for the Evening Standard and The Independent on Sunday, and the resident critic for BBC One’s Film programme.
Rhianna Dhillon has been a film critic for 14 years, beginning her career at BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra as their in-house film critic. Now the film and TV critic for Nick Grimshaw’s BBC 6Music’s Breakfast Show, Rhianna also hosts the Penguin Podcast. Rhianna moderates ceremonies and Q&As for BAFTA, Disney, Netflix, the BFI, The Edinburgh TV Festival and others and appears regularly on news and film shows across the BBC, Sky and Channel 4 and others.