Film Screening: Taste of the Land

Join us for the screening of Taste of the Land (73mins), the final event in our Shifting Landscapes Film Series presented in partnership with Emergence Magazine.

In the Khmer language, the root word for “nature” and “country” is cheate, meaning “taste”: to truly understand the essence of the land, one must know it through the senses. Documenting the people and landscapes of Cambodia threatened by development, filmmaker Kalyanee Mam awakens an ancestral memory of the taste of the land that lies within her.

Following the screening, we will host a facilitated reflection and discussion using the Shifting Landscapes Engagement Guide, offering space to connect the story of the film with your own landscape and community.

Since fleeing Cambodia with her family during the Khmer Rouge regime, and a genocide which devastated an entire culture and displaced millions of people from their homes, documentary filmmaker Kalyanee Mam has spent much of her life searching for a rooted connection to place. This film follows her to the landscapes of her homeland—changing through deforestation, industrialisation, urbanisation, and development—where she has spent years documenting the disappearing, relational ways of life held within them. As she comes to know these places not only through the lens of her camera but through the intimate relationships she forms with the landscapes and people whose stories she shares, Kalyanee awakens an ancestral memory of the taste of the land that lies within.

Taste of the Land is the final in a series of four films in the Shifting Landscapes series, which explores the power of art and story to orient us amid the darkness of our time. Each film follows an artist responding to profound changes in their landscape—from a melting glacier in Iceland to the vanishing song of the nightingale in southern England—offering new ways of seeing and being in connection with the Earth.

Make a day of it at Modern Painters, New Decorators:

• – A chance to meet and share food with artists from across the area. A free vegetarian lunch will be provided by Corita from 1pm.
• – A solo exhibition in the Gallery Space. Phil Root uses ceramic processes to explore the limits of traditional craft pottery.
• – A solo exhibition in the Project Space. A garden-like exhibition inspired by William Blake, where flowers, swans and watching eyes hold queer anxiety.

• Please note, this isn’t a dark, silent cinema screening — it’s part of the atmosphere of our lively, working art space. There may be some background sounds from the building during the film. We’ll keep the volume comfortable and the environment welcoming.
• The Project Space is wheelchair accessible with step-free entry.
• An accessible toilet is available onsite.
• Seating with back support is provided.
• Full closed captions are available on request — please let us know when booking if you would like captions enabled at the screening.
• For more information, visit our Access page.
• If you have any access requirements, please let us know when booking.
• Children are welcome to attend, but please note this is not designed as a family activity.

By train: 15-minute walk from Loughborough station (direct services from Leicester, Nottingham, Derby, and London St Pancras). By bus: Aumberry Gap bus stop is directly opposite the venue (services from Leicester, Nottingham, Derby). By car: Short-stay parking directly outside (2-hour limit, 8am–6pm). By bike: Public racks on Jubilee Way (bikes not permitted inside the building).

Tickets
This event is free, but booking is required. If you can no longer attend, please cancel your ticket so someone else can take your place.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Modern Painters, New Decorators, Aumberry Gap, Loughborough, United Kingdom

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