5 Soldiers (Talk & Film) | Hereford Military History Festival

The film is adapted from Kay’s internationally acclaimed dance-theatre production 5 SOLDIERS, which was created following extensive research embedded with the 4th Battalion The Rifles. Kay joined soldiers during full battle exercises, observed military training first-hand, and visited the Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre, gaining insight into the realities of injury, recovery and service life. These experiences informed a work grounded in the physical demands and emotional realities of military experience.

A decade after its acclaimed premiere, Kay revisits the work from a new perspective, transforming the stage production into a documentary for the screen. Combining newly created choreography with testimony from former members of the British Army, the film offers an unsentimental and deeply human portrait of army life: preparation and fear, discipline and camaraderie, boredom and bravado, injury and recovery, and the evolving role of women within the Armed Forces.

The film does not argue for or against war. Instead, it centres the individuals whose bodies carry its demands. It asks what it means to prepare bodies for combat, to live under conditions of extreme discipline and risk, and to return—changed—to civilian life. In a moment when defence, citizenship and national service are again part of public debate, 5 SOLDIERS invites audiences to consider how societies remember, understand and value those who serve.

UK screenings in 2026–27 will be presented with live discussions featuring Rosie Kay and invited guests from the military, academia, politics, journalism and veteran communities.