The 2013 Spring programme
Our film season runs between September and May, we can now reveal our 2013 programme up to and including Sunday 12th May...see below for more details.
Sunday 14th April 2013
WILL THE REAL TERRORIST PLEASE STAND UP
Saul Landau, Cuba/ USA 2012 (12A) English/ Spanish with EST, 65minThis documentary charts the fifty years of hostility towards Cuba and the attempts to overthrow the revolution and destabilise the government with sweeping and stringent economic sanctions. The director narrates this through the case of the Miami Five, the intelligence agents sent to infiltrate the right-wing Cuban exile terrorist groups in Miami who were given long sentences by the Miami court. Using historical footage and interviews with CIA and intelligence officers, the director questions and suggests answers to the persistent psychological war waged against Cuba and its people.
DEFENCE OF MADRID
Ivor Montagu, UK 1936 (Advised 12A), 34min, 16mm, English
Norman McLaren and Ivor Montagu travelled to Madrid to document the siege of the city by Franco’s army during the Spanish Civil War. The proceeds of screenings were used in fundraising for the Republican cause. Low budget, political, independent films were the mark of Ivor Montagu who established the London Film Society to show art/independent films.
Discussion led by Bernard Regan National Secretary, Cuba
Solidarity Campaign, Ros Cranston, BFI National Archive Curator, Non- Fiction and
Jim Jump, Secretary, International Brigade Memorial Trust.
Sunday 12th May 2013
MAN: ONE FAMILY
Ivor Montagu, GB 1946, 17 mins, 35mm
Ivor Montagu, GB 1946, 17 mins, 35mm
This film from the BFI archive was made as an exposure of the fallacy of race myths. Nazi and Japanese theories about pure blood and master races are contrasted with scientific facts of mixed origins to prove that no nation or race can be considered inferior or superior. Scientific advisers: Prof. J.B.S. Haldane and Dr Julian Huxley.
FIRE IN BABYLON
Steven Riley, UK 2010 (12A), 83 min
This film charts the rise of the iconic West Indies cricket
team to dominate the world in Test Match cricket. Set against the background of
colonisation and slavery, apartheid in South Africa, civil unrest in the Caribean
and race riots in England, the cricketers become a mouthpiece for a generation
opposing the worldwide prejudices of Babylon.
Interviews and dynamic filming bring their skills to life,
illustrating the spread of consciousness and inspiring creative cultures across
the Caribbean.
Official selection: London Film Festival, Glasgow Film
Festival.
Discussion led by Luke
Daniels, President, Caribbean Labour Solidarity, Tony Dykes. Director; Action for Southern Africa (ACTSA) and Dan Carrier, film critic of the Camden New Journal.
Previous screenings......
Sunday 10th March
BLOOD IN THE MOBILE
BLOOD IN THE MOBILE
Frank Praschei Poulson, Denmark 2010 (12A), 82 min
Our demand for mobile phones helps finance the civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa, that has cost five million lives. Documentary director Frank Praschei Poulson exposes the bloody side of the mobile phone trade where slave labourers extract by hand the minerals exported to Europe for electronic equipment. The workers, often teenagers, live in camps patrolled by soldiers and run by warlords who exploit them. Unsurprisingly, Poulson is blocked when he tries to engage with the policy makers at Nokia, the Danish mobile phone market leader.
BEFORE DARK
T.G. Ajay, India 2010 (U) 33 min, Hindi with EST
The Jindal Thermal Plant in Chhattisgarh destroyed the fertile land and homes of the farming community, polluted the water and damaged the local environment. Despite public hearings and campaigns, the local administration and government failed to protect the villagers. Corporate interests won over the rights of individuals. The director had been imprisoned on false charges and later dedicated the film to those who had campaigned for his release.
Discussion led by Jonathan Parry, Emeritus Professor of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Conrad Landin, Young Labour activist at Cambridge and Associate Editor of Left Futures (www.leftfutures.org)
Sunday 10th February
STEALING THE ARAB SPRING
Julien Teil & Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya, France 2012 (Advised 12A) 34 min
This documentary exposes the body of lies that led to the suspension of Libya from the Human Rights Council and generated the Nato-led war to protect the Libyan population. The allegations which claimed that Gaddafi had violently repressed and killed 6,000 of his own people had originated from human rights organisations within Libya and were sanctioned by seventy plus NGOs. These lies had spread before they were verified and led to the murder and detention of many Black African and sub Saharan migrant workers and Black Libyans.
OTHER EUROPE (ALTRA EUROPA)
Rosella Schillaci, Italy 2011 (12A) 75min
200 migrants from Africa squat an abandoned clinic in Turin, north Italy, in 2008. The director follows three of them during a year in which they struggle for survival as legal, political refugees, dealing with suspicion from the local community and minimal support from voluntary associations and local council initiatives. This feature documentary illustrates the changing face of Europe, immigration policies and the inherent contradictions these pose for the migrants and the host community.
Al Jazeera International Film Festival Qutar 2012; Public Liberties and human rights award for long categories,
2011 RAI International Film Festival London; RAI film prize ,
2011 This human world International Film Festival, Vienna; Jury prize,
Piemonte movie; 1st Prize,
Baghdad Film Festival- Jury Prize,
2011 Salina Doc Fest ITALIA.DOC section- Best Documentary,
To watch the trailer and find more information visit www.azulfilm.com or email doc@azulfilm.com
2011 RAI International Film Festival London; RAI film prize ,
2011 This human world International Film Festival, Vienna; Jury prize,
Piemonte movie; 1st Prize,
Baghdad Film Festival- Jury Prize,
2011 Salina Doc Fest ITALIA.DOC section- Best Documentary,
To watch the trailer and find more information visit www.azulfilm.com or email doc@azulfilm.com
Discussion led by Jeremy Corbyn MP
Sunday 12th January 2013
GASLAND
Josh Fox, USA 2010 (PG) 107min
“Fracking,” mining shale gas by injecting water, sand and chemicals into rocks far below the ground could meet the UK’s energy needs for 100 years but conservationists condemn it. This documentary investigates environmental concerns of climate change and the risks to human health of “fracking” in north America. The Co-operative Group supports this film in campaigning for a moratorium on the development of shale gas and “fracking” in the UK.
Oscar Nominated 2011, Sundance Special Jury Award 2010.
Discussion led by Derek Wall, International Co-ordinator of the Green Party of England & Wales.
Sunday 23rd September 2012
UK PREMIERE: DUDAMEL: LET THE CHILDREN PLAY
Alberto Arvelo Mendoza, USA/ Venezuela 2010 (PG), 90
mins, Spanish with EST
You just have to look at the children’s faces in the El
Sistema orchestra, led by Gustavo Dudamel their gifted conductor, to see their
joy and engagement. Thirty-five years on, across fifty countries, this radical
movement spills into deprived communities and offers the young a chance to
empower themselves. Capitalist societies degrade arts education; Venezuela
believes that engaging the soul inspres a passion which carries children through every level of education and instils
hard work and dedication. “Music makes me feel as if i’m flying.”
We expect to include a short film before the main
feature.
Sunday 14 October 2012
BUILDERS AND THE GAMES
Margaret
Dickinson, UK 2012 (U) 57 mins
Making Builders and the Games began with the
aim of documenting experiences of construction workers building the London
Olympic Park. The process turned into a long struggle with bureaucracy,
security and hype, reflected in an end product which stresses the wider
context. Although centred in Stratford, the film considers the legacy of past
high-profile projects and explores problems such as the lack of apprenticeships,
which the Olympic Authority promised to address, and blacklisting, which it did
not.
ROYAL
CLEANERS FIGHT FOR A LIVING WAGE
Reel News,
UK 2011 (Advised E) 11 mins
While
millions are spent on the Royal wedding, the cleaners in Buckingham Palace have
to make do with poverty pay.
GREECE: OUR PRESENT IS YOUR FUTURE! (Extract)
Reel News,
UK 2012 (12A) 45 mins
The unprecedented
huge vote for radical left parties in Greece earlier this year is a reflection
of the powerful social movements forming on the ground that have a real chance
of stopping the Europe-wide austerity measures. Many self-organised solidarity
groups are springing up all over the country- in particular the parallel
developments of rank and file committees in the work places with neighbourhood
assemblies in the communities.
Sunday 11th November 2012
VIETNAM AFTER THE FIRE
Edward
Milner, UK 1989 (E) 105 mins, some EST
The B52
carpet bombing during the Vietnam War punctured the landscape with 21 million
craters, and Agent Orange laid bare over 2 million hectares of forest and farm
land. Despite some disturbing images the director, a biologist, captures the
spirit of the people who reclaim the war torn land and rebuild the fragile
ecosystem. They re-cultivate the mangrove swamps, replant the eroded coastal
lands encouraging the return of rare birds and marine life, and teach their
youth to recreate the rain forests.
Special Jury
Prize, Canada 1989; Best Film made for Television, New York 1990.
TRAILER FOR
BHOPALI
Van Maximilian
Carlson, USA 2010 (E) 3 mins
This trailer
was made for the Glastonbury Festival. Bhopali is a powerful documentary that
followed several second-generation children and their families as they cope
with the medical and social consequences of the world’s worst industrial
disaster, the 1984 Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal, India and the
contamination of ground water. The Bhopalis continue the fight for justice
against the US corporation Union Carbide, the second largest world chemical
company and a London Olympic Games 2012 sponsor.
Grand Jury
Award, Slamdance 2011; Best Documentary, LA International 2011
Remembrance
Day discussion led by Edward Milner, with Len Aldis of the Britain Vietnam
Friendship Society and Colin Toogood, campaigns co-ordinator for the Bhopal
Medical Appeal
Sunday 9th December 2012
BUNDA’IM
Eran Torbiner, Israel 2011 (U), 48 mins, Yiddish with EST
The Jewish Socialist Bund movement struggled for the right of
the Jews to full equal rights. It was strong among Polish Jews on the eve of
WWII and was the arch rival of the Zionist movement. Bund supporters who
survived the war and chose to emigrate to Israel have tried to continue
spreading Bund ideas for over 60 years. Bund activists alive today are over 80
years old but insist on speaking Yiddish and talking Socialism. Now more than ever
they insist on dying as Bundists.
Eran Torbiner, July
2012
WHOSE IS THIS SONG? (Chia E Tazi Pesen?)
Adela Peeva, Belgium/ Bulgaria 2003 (PG) 70 mins, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Turkish with EST
Music has the power to evoke passion but how can one song
spark so many? Adela Peeva exposes conflicting beliefs of love, religion,
revolution and nationalism in her travels through the Balkan states of
Macedonia, Turkey, Greece, Albania, Bosnia, Serbia and Bulgaria to discover the
provenance of this song. Her journey reveals the shared tradition of Balkan
nations passed down by what was the Ottoman Empire but also blurred and mixed
national identities that give rise to powerful emotions.
Nashville Film Festival 2004; Ethnographic Festival, Paris 2004
Discussion led by David Rosenberg of the Jewish Socialist Group, Jonathan Silverman, writer, publisher and photographer and David Wilson, first director of the Pavarotti Music Centre in Bosnia Herzegovina.
Previous Programmes
Sunday 13th May 2012
OFFSIDE
Jafar Panahi,
Iran 2006 [PG], 93 mins, Farsi with EST
A group of girls disguised as boys fail in their attempt to watch
the World Cup qualifier in Tehran's Azadi Stadium but hear the closing victory en route to the regime's vice squad to receive
punishment for transgressing the moral code. In this witty and funny
film, football is a metaphor for criticism of the regime and the symbolic
changes foreshadowed by its young people; meanwhile the director is held
in prison and denied both personal and professional freedom.
THE GREAT TRADE ROBBERY
Grant Gilchrist, UK 2008 [12A], 7.5 mins
This incisive animation produced by Manic Films Production and the
World Trade Movement presents familiar arguments about the balance of power in
the globalised world. Addressing the dominant players in Brussels, the
capitalist wolf outlines to an audience how the global market strategies in
tourism, finance and energy can create wealth but is foiled by the sharp sheep's
exposé of the moral issues and an alternative strategy.
Discussion led by Majid
Beheshti, Iranian film critic and magazine editor, Azar Sephr of the
Committee for the Defence of Iranian People’s Rights (CODIR) and Megan Dobney, Regional
Secretary, Southern & Eastern Region TUC and Executive Member of the
National Assembly of Women.
Sunday 15th April 2012
COME TO MY COUNTRY: JOURNEYS WITH KABIR AND FRIENDS (Chalo Hamara Des)
Shabnam Virmani, India 2008 [ 12A], 98 mins, Hindi/Malwi
with EST
Shabnam Virmani illuminates the world of Kabir, the 15th
century mystical poet of north India through the friendship between Indian folk
singer Prahlad Tipanya, a ’low caste’ Dalit singer, and an American academic
Linda Hess. Using poetry and song the film juxtaposes familiar concepts
of urban and rural, classical and folk music, and secular and fundamentalist
thought in the weaving of the wisdom of the ancient world with a contemporary
secular one.
THE LAST RITES
Yasmine Kabir, Bangladesh 2008 [12A], 17 mins
Yasmine Kabir, in this silent film takes us to the shipbuilding
yards of
Discussion led by Ayub Aulia, of the Pakistan Writers’ Guild,
writer, poet, art critic and musicologist
Tickets for children under the age of 16 are priced at £3. Both
the above films are suitable.
Sunday 11th March 2012
LIFE IN THE SHADOWS - PALESTINIANS IN LEBANON,
Tomo Brody, narrated by Juliet Stevenson, 22mins (of
which we screen 15mins) (E)
(made for the charity Medical Aid for Palestinians)
Palestinian Health care in Lebanon is underfunded and
chronically unfit for the needs of the refugee population. Of particular
concern are the overburdened and under-resourced UN clinics, an acute shortage
of Palestinians training to become doctors and an inadequate tertiary
healthcare system that places unbearable stress upon patients.
There is an
accompanying MAP report on Palestinians in Lebanon, copies of which will be
available on the 11th.
Eyal Sivan,
Belgium/Germany/France/Israel 2010 [PG], 86 mins, French/Arabic/Hebrew/English
with EST
Israeli filmmaker Eyal Sivan peels back the orange skin to expose the
history and layers of meaning in the Palestinian/Israeli conflict through the Jaffa brand,
a globalised image reproduced in the media and authenticated by historians as
the symbolic life-affirming fruit of the 'Holy Land '.
The image of the orange, rebranded by the Palestine Liberation
Organisation as a grenade, is the fruit dripping with the blood of the lost
lands and its people.
Serge Avédikian, France 2010 [PG],15 mins
In 1910 the Turkish authorities rounded up 30,000 stray dogs in
Constantinople and transported them to die on a deserted island in the Bosporus .
The haunting images and soundtrack in this animation foretell the genocide of
the Armenian people which was initiated by the Turks in 1915. This film
won the Palme D'Or in 2010.
We
are delighted that HE Prof Manuel Hassassian, of the Palestinian
General Delegation UK, will take part in our panel for the Q&A and
discussion after the screenings. We are very honoured that he has been
able to make time to be with us.
On
the panel with Dr Hassassian will be Sarah Colbourne (Director, Palestine Solidarity Campaign) and
Vaughan Pilikian, filmmaker
(Hammer and Flame) as given in the programme. Frank Barat Co-ordinator, Russell Tribunal on Palestine
Sunday 12th February 2012
JUST DO IT
Emily James,
UK 2011 [12A], 88 mins
Emily James spent a year within the environmental movement
documenting the clandestine activities of the major players. In this feature
documentary, she presents an insider's account of the new global movement, an
independent group funded by volunteers; inspiring, anarchic individuals with
inventive strategies challenge the multi-nationals, frustrate the police and
create confusion. This film shows what one group of committed individuals can
achieve.
NOT IN OUR NAME
Gabrielle Tierney, Ireland
Nine men were totally acquitted of their £350,000 criminal damage
to the International Arms manufacturer in Derry in
2006. The decision became a legal benchmark; an act of deliberate civil
disobedience recognised as a weapon in the fight for peace. This film documents
the victory and their solidarity with the people in the Lebanese town of Qana
Discussion led by Emily James, Gabrielle
Tierney and Anne-Marie O’Reilly, Outreach Co-ordinator,
Campaign Against Arms Trade
Sunday 8 January 2012
LOCKED OUT
Joan Sekler,
US 2010 [12A], 60 mins
The multinational, Rio Tinto group, historically known for
draconian measures, attempted to severely cut the pay and conditions of 570
borax miners in the isolated, desert town of Boron , California
UNDER THE CRANES
Emma-Louise Williams, UK 2011 [12A], 56 mins
Director Emma-Louise Williams has collaborated with Hackney poet
and resident Michael Rosen to produce a film-poem that explores the
inter-connection between ourselves and where we live, based on his play Hackney
Voices. The changing face of Hackney and its residents emerges
through current images, urban sounds and rare historical footage, and Rosen's
voice illuminates and questions the threats and the choices fostered by the
dubious activities of Hackney Council and the regeneration of the area.
Discussion led by Emma-Louise Williams, Michael
Rosen and Shane Enright - Amnesty International UK Trade Union
Campaigns Manager/ AI Global Trade Union Adviser.
Sunday 11th December 2011
THE COCA-COLA CASE
German Gutierrez/ Carmen Garcia, Canada 2009 (E) 80 mins
Labour rights lawyers Daniel Kovalik and Terry Collingsworth are
activists for the 'Stop the Killer-Coke campaign,' which has seen Ray Rodgers
put the Coca-Cola empire on trial. Coca-Cola stands accused of the drying of
water wells in India and the torture/ murder of union leaders trying to improve
working conditions in Columbia, Guatemala and Turkey. Predictably, two courts
have already dismissed their claims but the struggle continues to make the
giant multinational drinks company accountable for policies of profit over
people.
VILLAGE LIVES, DISTANT POWERS
Peggy Froerer, India/ UK (E) 32mins.
Produced by Margaret Dickinson
Focusing on one village in central India, this film asks why the
poor are routinely deprived of basic services; how does a culture of bribery
impact on their everyday lives. The story is told from the perspective of the
anthropologist/ filmmaker who takes up a problem with a senior civil servant
and soon finds herself also paying court to a politician. It poses sharply the
potential contradiction in the idea that an anthropologist is a 'participant
observer.'
Discussion led by Tony Benn, filmmaker Peggy Froerer,
Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at Brunel University, and writer and
filmmaker Margaret Dickinson.
*Tickets for this event must be obtained as usual but they will be
issued free. We appreciate donations to cover venue and other expenses.
Sunday 13th November 2011
[UK PREMIERE]
DEADLY DUST (TODESSTAUB)
Frieder Wagner, Germany 2006 (E) 93 mins
In a science-based documentary, we accompany Prof Gunther,
epidemiologist and specialist in tropical diseases, and his expert colleagues
as they explore the effects of depleted uranium ammunition used in Iraq, Kosovo
and Bosnia, though banned by the Hague and Geneva Conventions. Winds can carry
them clear across our planet, leaving behind a path of destruction. The surge
in post-war birth defects indicates an epidemic of reproductive abnormalities.
We express our gratitude to Frieder Wagner for facilitating today's premiere.
[UK PREMIERE]
WITH THE LINCOLN BRIGADE IN SPAIN
Henri Cartier- Bresson/ Herbert Kline, US 1938 (E) 18 mins
Internationally acclaimed photographer Cartier- Bresson filmed the
Brigade, which had emerged in response to the US policy of non intervention.
Drawn from all wakes of life and thought to be the first military unit
commanded by a black officer, the volunteers trained alongside Spanish troops
and became known for their bravery. In 2010 the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archive
discovered, restored and re-released this cinema treasure.
Discussion led by Rae Street, CND Council member and
active in the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons, John
Green, former documentary filmmaker, and Helen Graham,
Professor of Modern European History at Royal Holloway University of London.
The November programme was co-sponsored by CND and the
International Brigade Memorial Trust.
Sunday 9 October 2011
SYLVIA PANKHURST: EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE,
Ceri Dingle/Viv Regan, UK 2011 [E], DVD, 90 min
The contribution made by campaigner Sylvia Pankhurst to human
rights is contextualised in this documentary researched and produced by over
100 volunteers. The film contains interviews with her son Richard Pankhurst and
his wife Rita as well as suffrage historians and rare archival footage. While
her mother Emmeline and sister Christabel focused on a limited suffrage of
upper class women, Sylvia devoted her time to improving women’s lives during
the war in the slums of East
London . Initially establishing nurseries and a free clinic, the
movement for universal suffrage encompassed the women’s struggle, the Irish
struggle and the anti war movement and aroused the wrath of politicians.
AWRA AMBA: UTOPIA IN ETHIOPIA
Paulina Tervo, Ethiopia 2010 [E], DVD, 28.5 mins
Awra Amba is a model village nestling in the hills of northern Ethiopia
Discussion led by Ceri Dingle and Mary
Davis, Professor of Labour History at London Metropolitan University.
Sunday 11th September 2011
PICCADILLY,
Ewald André
Dupont UK 1929
silent [PG], DVD, 108 mins
Ewald Andre Dupont, a German émigré,
voices the sexual and racist tensions in this London London and the
underworld of Limehouse. We screen now to the newly commissioned score by
Neil Brand, recorded by some of UK ’s
leading jazz players.
A PALACE FOR US:
Tom Hunter,
UK 2010 [Advised E], 18 mins
The artist and filmmaker Tom Hunter entices us to look afresh at
the Woodberry Down Estate in East
London . Filmed in and around the Estate, the memories and
experiences of residents, who have lived there since it opened are beautifully
re-captured through dramatisations and evoked through sound and image. The film
challenges the negative stereotypes of working class culture; these residents
present the hopes and dignity that the newly formed welfare state had offered
to communities reeling from the poverty and anxiety of the 30’s and 40’s.
Discussion led by Bryony
Dixon, Curator of Silent Film
at the BFI National Archives, Tom
Hunter, Senior Research Fellow and lecturer at the London College of
Communication, University of the Arts London, and Lizzie Woods, Public &
Commercial Services Union (PCS) organiser, with the Royal Cleaners’ Campaign
for the London Living Wage
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