What went down at Dazed Club Live: Manchester

On May 30, Dazed ventured up to Manchester for our first ever Dazed Club Live event outside of London with an exciting programme featuring talks, a mixer, plus an exclusive MUBI screening of Medusa Deluxe followed by a Q&A with the film's director.

We welcomed Dazed Club members to HOME, the light, bright arts hub at the edge of Manchester's city centre, for a day which turned out to be a fun, engaging and informative event for young creatives from all across the north of England.

Missed out? Don't worry: here's what went down.

First up was our filmmaking salon with Medusa Deluxe director Thomas Hardiman, hosted by Dazed Club's Jack Sunnucks. Hardiman began working as a writer and director after releasing a series of short films under the pseudonym ‘Dear Mr Quistgaard’, including Radical Hardcore which was released via Dazed in 2016. Medusa Deluxe is his feature debut, produced by BBC Films, the BFI and Emu Films.

In the morning, Hardiman shared the story of how he got his foot in the door in the film industry and his best tips for putting together a great film, before answering some of the audience's burning questions.

Our afternoon panel, also hosted by Jack Sunnucks, delved into what it's really like to work for a magazine. We heard from social media assistant Lamia Barakat, Dazed Digital's deputy editor Serena Smith, culture and operations coordinator Eddie Langham and marketing assistant Rae Ashton.

They shared insights about how they secured their current jobs, what day-to-day life is like at Dazed, and all the different pathways into the creative industries. Our panellists then answered questions from the audience, such as how to gain experience as a fashion stylist, how to write the perfect article pitch, and how to cope when impostor syndrome rears its ugly head. (The answer? As Lamia put it: "embrace it.")

Manchester may be known as the ‘Rainy City’, but there wasn't a storm cloud in sight for our afternoon mixer. Dazed Club members got the chance to grab a drink and chat with fellow Clubbers and network with the Dazed team, making full use of HOME's bright event space and sun-soaked terrace.

We not only played host to Manchester locals, but also welcomed those who had travelled to the event from other Northern cities like Blackpool, Leeds, and Huddersfield. The mixer turned out to be a lively gathering of young creatives from all across the north.

We were lucky enough to round off the day with an exclusive MUBI screening of Medusa Deluxe, a "bold, camp and unique" murder mystery.

Medusa Deluxe follows a group of hair stylists at a regional hairdressing competition, who try to uncover the killer in their midst after one competitor is found murdered. The film is darkly funny with a cast of vivacious characters, but has also been described as "visually stunning", largely thanks to Eugene Souleiman's dazzling hair styling. If you missed our Manchester screening, not to worry – it's out in cinemas from June 9.

Following the screening, our attendees were treated to a Q&A with Thomas Hardiman hosted by Manchester's own Kya Buller, where they discussed the inspiration behind the film, Hardiman's love of hair, and how Medusa Deluxe straddles both the comedy and thriller genres. To finish the day, Hardiman also imparted some more of his sage tips for getting started with a creative career.

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