Saturday 31st January 2026
11:00am-2:30pm – Atrium Cinema, USW
FEATURE FILM + DISCUSSION
The Killing Of Sister George (1968) UK, 2 hours & 18 mins, Directed by Robert Aldrich
The life of a soap opera actress begins to unravel as she fears her character will be written out of the series.
The Killing of Sister George is famous or perhaps infamous for its raw depiction of lesbian sexuality, life and sex itself in late 1960s UK.
Controversially, some scenes were shot in the iconic ‘The Gateways Club’ with real lesbians enjoying what, until then, had been a very private queer space. The film accidently(?) ‘outed’ dozens of women, yet at the same time, it showed closeted lesbian and bisexual women all over the UK that a place existed where they could be free.
The depiction of lesbianism in the film is not particularly favourable, but nonetheless it marked a turning point in lesbian visibility and changed some people’s lives for the good.
Historian Norena Shopland will be giving a talk about the wide range of reactions to this ground-breaking but problematic lesbian film. And then will be interviewing Jane Traies & Chris Moreno who saw the film in the cinema when it was released in 1968.
There will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions! We are expected a very lively discussion!
Norena Shopland is an author/historian, specialising in the research and writing of diversity and Welsh history. Her works include Forbidden Lives: LGBT Stories from Wales, the first work on Welsh sexual orientation and gender identity history, and A History of Women in Men’s Clothes: From Cross-Dressing to Empowerment. Norena was awarded an honourary degree from the Open University for raising awareness of diversity in Wales, and she writes a monthly history column for the online news service Nation Cymru. Her latest book, My love all Love excels: The Remarkable Life and Times of 17th-Century Poet, Katherine Philips, will be published in June.
Jane Traies is a writer, researcher and storyteller who works to uncover the hidden histories of marginalised women. Her best-seller Now You See Me is a collection of older lesbian life stories: her second life-history collection, Free to Be Me, captures the stories of a group of lesbian and bisexual women seeking asylum in the UK. Writing jointly with Jacky Bratton, Jane is also half of the sapphic historical novelist Jay Taverner. Jane’s latest book, 3000 Lesbians Go To York, tells the story of the UK’s largest and longest-lasting queer women’s arts festival. Recently Jane co-produced the film version 3000 Lesbians Go To York with Rachel Dax and Kate O’Dwyer.
Chris Moreno was born in Cardiff and currently resides there. She has also worked in London and Jersey. Chris was a founder member of Cardiff Gay Switchboard in the late 1970s. She also volunteered for Cardiff Friend and Lesbian Line. She was a Stonewall Cymru volunteer for many years. Chris has a Master’s Degree in Women’s Studies from Cardiff University.