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 Chittagong,
Bangledesh, where thousands of men, driven by poverty, each year seek
jobs. She links the ‘last rites’ rituals of ship breaking with the
survival of a community willing to work in an environmental wasteland of toxic
waste and asbestos. The film won the top award at the Film South Asian Festival
in 2009 where it was compared with Robert Flaherty’s Man of Aran.
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.
JAFFA: THE ORANGE’S
CLOCKWORK
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.
BARKING ISLAND
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 and
co-author of Corporate Complicity in Israel’s Occupation (Pluto
2011) is unable to attend, as his work with the Russell Tribunal
is taking him to Canada. He sends his apologies. Marj Mayo will
chair the discussion and we ask that audience members keep their remarks brief
and to the point in order that all may participate.
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/UK
2009 [Advised 18], 30 mins
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;
knowledge of the production of those weapons and their use in the Israeli
massacre became an impetus for the men to act.
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,
in 2010. Joan Sekler, independent filmmaker, crafts the course of the
miners' action during the 107 days of a lock out. With solidarity at local and
national level and the support of their community the miners agree to a new
contract with the majority of their benefits intact.
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 promoting
radical politics in a conservative culture: gender equality, sharing the
workload and rejecting traditional religion. Filmmaker Paulina Tervo
brings us the vision of its founder, local farmer Zumra Nuru and the project to
build a new senior school to government standards. The fundraising events will
have a boost in the autumn with the Great Ethiopian Run, a campaign to provide
scholarships for young women in the Horn of Africa. The Sylvia Pankhurst
scholarship is one of their partners.
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 based melodrama
of the late silent cinema. Set in a night club, Sosho, the dishwasher attracts
the attention of the club owner with her striking dancing and the resentment of
the lead dancer, the club owner’s former lover. The black and white tones
tinged with amber and blue tinted scenes glide between fashionable jazz age 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
