The Shadow Scholars + Q&ACert-TBC

Directed by Eloise King | UK | 2024 | 1h 37m

Oxford professor Patricia Kingori delves into the hidden, multi-billion-dollar “fake essay” industry, where an estimated 40,000 highly educated Kenyans earn a living by writing academic papers for students around the world. These “shadow scholars” help students in countries like the UK secure degrees and launch lucrative careers, all without doing the work themselves. Travelling to Nairobi to meet the ghostwriters, Patricia exposes this invisible workforce and questions the true value of academic qualifications in a world where degrees can be bought.

One-off screening followed by a Q&A with Professor Patricia Kingori (University of Oxford) and Carli Coetzee (President of the African Studies Association). 

Sorry - you missed it!

We showed The Shadow Scholars + Q&A between September 16, 2025 and September 16, 2025.

Join our mailing list and we'll make sure you always know what's on and when.

What else is on?

Today (Sunday 29th March)

14:00

My Night at Maud's PG
1h 50m | French w/ English subtitles
A devout Catholic engineer’s orderly life is unsettled by an intimate, chance encounter with Maud, a confident divorcée. As philosophy, desire, and morality collide, Jean-Louis Trintignant shines in Éric Rohmer’s most celebrated Six Moral Tales film.

Book here

16:30

Sound of Falling 18
2h 35m | German w/ English subtitles
Across the twentieth century four teenage girls spend their youth in the same farmhouse decades apart, yet their lives echo each other. German director Mascha Schilinski interweaves generations of girlhood, revealing loneliness and lost innocence across a turbulent century.

Book here

19:45

The President's Cake 12A
1h 45m | Arabic w/ English subtitles
During 1990s Iraq, schoolgirl Lamia is chosen by her class to bake a birthday cake for Saddam Hussein. With her pet rooster beside her she searches the town for ingredients in an award-winning debut about childhood resilience and life under dictatorship.

Book here


Tomorrow (Monday 30th March)

18:00

My Night at Maud's PG
1h 50m | French w/ English subtitles
A devout Catholic engineer’s orderly life is unsettled by an intimate, chance encounter with Maud, a confident divorcée. As philosophy, desire, and morality collide, Jean-Louis Trintignant shines in Éric Rohmer’s most celebrated Six Moral Tales film.

Book here

20:30

Sirāt 15
1h 54m | Spanish, French & Arabic w/ English subtitles
Oliver Laxe’s intense, hallucinatory road movie follows a father and son through Morocco as they try to find a missing relative at various sprawling, illegal raves. Winner of the Jury Prize at Cannes Film Festival 2025.

Book here


Plan your visit

Our beautiful art deco inspired auditorium can be found just off East Oxford's Cowley Road.We are open 7 days a week. We open the cinema and box office 30 minutes before the scheduled start time of each film, and the Box Office then closes 10 minutes after the film starts. We only show a few adverts – less than most cinemas – and we only play a couple of trailers, so please don’t be late as the film itself starts very close to the advertised time!