Birdsong: Stories from Pripyat screenings at HOME + more

This year is the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster, and a new mixed-media creative piece marks this solemn occasion. Birdsong: Stories from Pripyat is a 40-minute film accompanied by a live score by a chamber ensemble. It will be screened/performed at HOME later this month, and at the Plaza in Stockport and Peel Hall in Salford in October . In creating this piece, filmmaker Clara Casian, and composer Robin Richards spent several days in the town of Pripyat, inside the Chernobyl evacuation zone. Here they filmed in the still-abandoned buildings and met with Belarusian artists and historians. The narrative of the resulting film follows the people with first-hand experience of the disaster, including the evacuees themselves. Personal records and testimonies are mixed with archival material and found footage. Robin Richards is best known as the bass player from the band Dutch Uncles, but he used his formal training to create a contemporary classical score.

Fri 30 Sep, HOME, 2 Tony Wilson Place, First Street, Manchester, M15 4FN. Tel: 0161 200 1500, 8.30pm, £8 –  £12, homemcr.org

Thu 6 Oct, The Plaza, Mersey Square, Stockport, SK1 1SP. Tel: 0161 477 7779, 7pm, £9.25 – £11.25, stockportplaza.co.uk

Fri 7 Oct, Peel Hall, Peel Building, Salford, M5 4WT. 7pm, £5 – £10, www.eventbrite.co.uk