Previous screenings......

Sunday 10th March



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

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.

Discussion led by Alvaro Sanchez, of the Venezuelan embassy press office, and Dr Francisco Dominguez, head of the Centre for Brazilian and Latin American Studies at Middlesex University. 

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.

Discussion led by Margaret Dickinson, Shaun Dey of Reel News and Paul Mackney of the Greece Solidarity Campaign.

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.