Tuesday, 23rd of February, 8pm of The War You Don't See, John Pilger, Alan Lowery, 2010 from Sands Films

In The War You Don't See, John Pilger returns to the subject of war reporting and its critical role in the making of wars. This ‘drum beat’ was the theme of Pilger's 1983 documentary Frontline: The Search for Truth in Wartime, a history of war journalism from the Crimea in the 19th century (‘the last British war without censorship’) to Margaret Thatcher's Falklands War in 1982. The War You Don’t See analyses propaganda as a weapon in Iraq and Afghanistan. The title refers to censorship by omission – ‘the most virulent form of censorship,’ said Pilger – and the collusion of journalists in nominally free societies such as Britain and the United States. London Socialist Film Co-op, in collaboration with the Committee for the Defence of Julian Assange and Sands Films, would like to invite you to a film screening of this outstanding film on 23rd of February, 8pm from the Sands Films Studios, whose regular, wonderful screenings takes place on Tuesdays of every week.Films can be viewed after the event, should you miss this date's show. Here is the links on-line. Speakers after the film will be Jan Woolf, writer and anti-war activist, interviewing Sami Ramadani, Anti-War activist, lecturer of Sociology. https://www.sandsfilms.co.uk/cinema-club.html https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/141355896291 https://www.facebook.com/events/828722867690294 donations are welcome.

The War On Journalism: The Case of Julian Assange, On-line screening with introduction and Q&A's can now be viewed, see below

An online screening of “THE WAR ON JOURNALISM: The Case of Julian Assange”, with live Q&A with the director of the film, Juan Passarelli, Matt Kennard, investigative journalist, and Emmy Butlin of the Committee to Defend Julian Assange. There is a war on journalism - Julian Assange is at the centre of that war. If this precedent is set then what happens to Assange can happen to any journalist.

A special event arranged by The Campaign for the Defence of Julian Assange in collaboration with The London Socialist Film Co-op.

The film can be viewed here:
https://vimeo.com/499608537

Screenings are at Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DL.
Nearest tube: Warren Street. Overground: Euston.
Buses: 10, 14, 18, 24, 27, 29, 30, 73, 88, 134, 205, 390.
Booking information: tickets are available from 10.20 am on the day and may not be booked in advance.
Admission £10, concessions £8. Annual members £6/£4. Sorry no credit cards.
Membership details.

London Socialist Film Co-op Press Release May 2020

Long running film society faced with possible closure.A successful film society that has operated from a variety of Camden venues for nearly thirty years is in danger of closing down. The London Socialist Film Co-op announced at its AGM in March that it will have to wind up its activities after July unless new volunteers come forward to run it. Another meeting to discuss solutions had to be postponed because of coronavirus. Since 1991 the LSFC has been attracting a mix of cinephiles and political activists to its seasons of eclectic screenings accompanied by speakers and discussion. The programmes, open to the public as well as members, raise political issues through a range of material from old classics and recent feature films to current activist work-in-progress. Speakers might be a film maker but equally a campaigner, politician or writer concerned with issues raised. Past speakers have included Tony Ben, Kate Hudson of CND and Jeremy Corbyn.A combination of factors have led to the decision to consider closure. The organising committee consists entirely of volunteers who commit a considerable amount of time to planning and running the screenings and the present officers, who have managed the cooperative for a good many years, no longer feel able to carry on. While there are members keen to help intermittently, none have so far offered to make the consistent commitment needed to carry the organisation into the future. This situation coincides with a need to seek a new venue for the screenings and while the Co-op has successfully changed venue several times in the past, a move is likely to require other changes and certainly an extra investment of time on the part of the organisers. The committee has taken the decision with considerable regret as the LSFC is appreciated both for the films it shows and for the context of political discussion. Members and users hope that closure can be avoided and that publicity about the situation may encourage volunteers to come forward. A special meeting will be called when COVID 19 restrictions allow at which anyone, whether currently a member or not, will be welcomed to discuss the future. In the meantime anyone interested in knowing more about the situation or receiving a notification about the meeting should contact Monique Buchli at contact.lsfc@gmail.com

postponed due to COVID - 19 SUNDAY, 10. MAY, 2020, 10:20 for 11:00 AM

The Occupation of the American Mind

Loretta Alper/Jeremy Earp, USA, 2016, USA/Gaza/Palestine, English, 84 min.

The documentary showcases the propaganda distributed of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and urges people to notice the dehumanizing of the Palestinian peoples in media coverage. Most of the aggression is perpetrated by the IDF, yet it is the spokesperson from Israel’s media that incessantly talks about Palestinian aggression.

We see peaceful Palestinian protests, but IDF with guns, armoured cars and massive use of tear gas. It’s David against Goliath. Yet the media manages to misrepresent every conflict that erupts. Criticising Israel is tantamount to being ‘anti-semitic’ (a Semite could come from any part of the Middle East, including Syria, Mesopotamia, North Africa, and further afield, including Palestinians). The mass media has been covering up the true facts and are conjuring up a different reality...

Postponed due to COVID-19 SUNDAY, 12 APRIL 2020, 10:20 for 11:00 AM

Sorry, We Missed You

Ken Loach, UK, November 2019, 15, English, 105 min.

A hard-up delivery driver and his wife struggle to get by in modern-day England. Zero-hours contracts, impossible schedules and degrading behaviour by management all culminate towards the breakdown of family life. Teenagers seeing their father struggle for a living make their own decisions to help with even graver consequences. This is a reality for many self-employed in neo-liberal Britain. Not a course that is likely to end any time soon. A brutally honest film that leaves the audience with a very uncomfortable outlook for the future. Will ‘Brexit’, deal or no deal, increase these injustices?

SUNDAY, 8. MARCH, 2020,10:20 for 11:00AM

The Real Story of Winnie & Nelson Mandela

Co-directors: Kenneth Mdana, David Mesenbring, Stanley Nelson, Zwelakhe Sisulu, documentary, France, 2016, English, 59 min.

Forget all the Hollywood films about Winnie and Nelson Mandela (propaganda) that do not in any way reveal the true story of White supremacist rule in South Africa and the heroes and sheroes that helped to fight for justice and freedom. For the first time ever see the critically acclaimed 1986 documentary on the lives of Winnie and Nelson Mandela without the frills, miseducation, whitewashing, and misinformation that is found in Hollywood blockbuster movies.

A Woman’s Place

Sue Crockford, Tony Wickert, Ellen Adams, UK. 1971, documentary, U, English, 35 min.

A film about the women's liberation movement. Some women say what they think is wrong with the present set-up, at a conference where the fathers look after the children and passers-by are questioned about their attitudes. It ends with a cheerful march through London by women, with some male supporters, demanding basic rights. Of great historical interest. How much have things changed since then? Made in 1971 this film reflects the cultural attitudes and language of the time it was made. The issues raised are timeless. The film quality may not be to modern standards

Interview with Sue Crockford, feminist filmmaker

Mark Hudson, UK, February 2015, English, 17 min.

SUNDAY, 9 FEBRUARY, 2020, 10:20 FOR 11 AM

THE GREAT MEETING, a documentary about the Durham Miners Gala
Daniel Draper, UK, 2019, 12A English, 91 min.

The Durham Miners' Association organised the first Durham Miners' Gala two years after its foundation in 1871 as an expression and celebration of its values of community, collectivism, and solidarity. The Big Meeting, as it is known, remains the biggest working-class festival in Europe, attended by more than 200,000 people in 2017. "It means so much to so many people that it deserves to be documented", comments Daniel Draper. The spirit of the mining communities lives on through this big meeting.

Speakers: Daniel Draper, film director

Screenings are at Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DL.
Nearest tube: Warren Street. Overground: Euston.
Buses: 10, 14, 18, 24, 27, 29, 30, 73, 88, 134, 205, 390.
Booking information: tickets are available from 10.20 am on the day and may not be booked in advance.
Admission £10, concessions £8. Annual members £6/£4. Sorry, no credit cards.
Membership details.

SUNDAY, 12 JANUARY, 2020 AT 10:20 FOR 11:00 AM

The Silence of Others

Co-directors: Robert Bahar, Almudena Carracedo, Spain, 2018, doc. Spanish [EST], 96 min.
This award-winning documentary film tells the story of victims of Spain's 40-year dictatorship, who continue to seek justice to this day...A 1977 amnesty law in Spain known as "the pact of forgetting" prohibits legal action related to the oppression, torture, and murder of an estimated 100,000 people during Franco’s 40-year dictatorship. But for much of the population – including the survivor who passes his torturer’s home every day, the children of forcibly disappeared parents found buried in mass graves, and parents still searching for their children seized at birth – there is no peace in silence. Taking strength and inspiration from justice-seekers in Chile and Guatemala, they continue to search. Speakers: Jim Jump, International Brigade Memorial Trust

Screenings are at Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DL.Nearest tube: Warren Street. Overground: Euston. Buses: 10, 14, 18, 24, 27, 29, 30, 73, 88, 134, 205, 390. Booking information: tickets are available from 10.20 am on the day and may not be booked in advance. Admission £10, concessions £8. Annual members £6/£4. Sorry, no credit cards.

Membership details.

Sunday, 08 December 2019, 10:20 for 11:00

Dispossession: The Great Social Housing Swindle

Paul Sng, UK, 2017, documentary, English, 82 mins.

This documentary film explores the agenda behind the neglect, demolition and regeneration of council estates in the U.K. over the past thirty years. The film reveals how individuals and communities are fighting against the state and private developers, as they try to save their homes from demolition, while investigating the decisions that turned a crisis into a tragedy...

Speakers : Glyn Robbins, Housing worker, writer, Visiting Researcher at London Metropolitan University

London’s Ancient Markets – their fight for survival

Dir. Sandra Shevey, UK, 2018, doc. English, 28 min.

This documentary about the demise of London`s traditional street markets challenges the cult of globalisation and gentrification of urban food areas and of food economy. At the Portobello it was listed under `Films We Love’. To encourage support for street market sustainability, Sandra runs Street Market walks. https://londonstreetmarketswalk.wordpress.com/

Speaker: Sandra Shevey, film director

Sunday, 10 November 2019, 10:20 for 11:00

Clara Immerwahr

Harald Sicheritz, Austria, 2014, biography, German, [EST], 88 min.

The brilliant chemists Clara and Fritz want to change the world. At the end of the 19th century Clara has to struggle to be admitted to a university to study. When WWI breaks out Fritz Haber volunteers for the army. The dreadful poison gas he develops changes the war. Clara sees all her ideals and dreams betrayed by the man she loves.

The film tells the life story of the first PhD German chemist Clara Immerwahr (1870-1915) and focuses on the question of morality in science and the role of a woman as a scientist at the beginning of the 20th century.

Speakers with Q&A

SUNDAY, 13 OCTOBER, 2019, 10:20 for 11:00 am

The Coming War on China

John Pilger, UK, 2016, documentary, English, 113 mins.

China, we are told by US government officials and the parroting establishment media has been aggressively attempting to expand its territory by taking over islands in the South China Sea. China, we are told, is a threat to peace.

It’s true, veteran journalist John Pilger concedes in the opening of his latest documentary film, The Coming War on China, that China has been trying to claim disputed territories in the South China Sea. But if this makes China a threat to peace, what does it make the US but the most aggressive and warmongering threat—not only to peace but to life on Earth itself—that has ever existed?

Discussion with Q&A's: CAAT, CND

Sunday, 8 September, 10:20 for 11:00

A Letter fromVenezuela

Nancy Carolina Graterol, Venezuela, 2019, Spanish, [EST] 78 min.

A poignant documentary interweaving a personal story of loss and the reality of life in Venezuela. In spite of the US and EU sanctions and the “weapons of mass deception”, Venezuelans are learning fast to overcome difficulties thrown in their way of a growing democracy, be it lack of toilet paper, toothpaste or urgently needed medicines..it cannot be right. The film takes us through the streets of Caracas and notes what people in the streets experience. A must-see film!

Speaker: Nancy Carolina Graterol, film director

SUNDAY, 12 MAY, 2019, 10:20 for 11:00 AM

Calais’ Children: A Case To Answer

Dir. Sue Clayton, 2017, UK, English/French/German, 62 mins,

Calais Children follows the young people over the months since they left the Jungle. The film speaks to Lord Dubs, the volunteer groups, and the lawyers with whom she is challenging the Home Office’s actions in the High Court. A compelling film that follows the scandal of what happened to the almost 2,000 lone children who were in the Calais jungle as it burned down last year. Most had a legal case to be in the UK. What went wrong? Where are they now? And, what can we do about it?

Speaker: Dir. Sue Clayton and Clare Moseley from Care4Calais

The Patriot Games by George Galloway,

Dirs. McDonald Brown/Ron McKay, UK, 2018, documentary, UK, English, 27 min.

The Far Right in Britain isn’t just on the march, it is taking violent, murderous action. A neo-Nazi group called National Action applauded the murder and the murderer of a young woman member of the British Parliament, Jo Cox. Other alleged members are charged with plotting the murder of another MP and two British soldiers, said to be from the same group, face serious terrorism charges. Fascism and far-right extremism, street violence and confrontation isn’t new in Britain. It dates back to at least the 1930s, and Oswald Mosley’s Blackshirts. Today’s incarnations are no less deadly. George Galloway investigates how it began, how it developed and reveals the major players in the latest mass street movement.

SUNDAY, 14 APRIL, 2019, 10:20 for 11:00 AM

Dennis Skinner: Nature of the Beast

Daniel Draper, UK, 2017, Documentary, PG, English, 106 min.

Raised alongside nine siblings within a mining village, Dennis has fought for the rights of the working class for over 50-years. Uncompromising in his views and with a set of incorruptible principles, Dennis is respected and feared on both sides of the House of Commons. Nature of the Beast looks at what lies behind his passion and drive, and tracks his rise from a local councillor to today, where he is one of Britain's most recognisable politicians - known as ‘The Beast of Bolsover’.

Speaker: Dir. Daniel Draper

Screenings are at Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DL.
Nearest tube: Warren Street. Overground: Euston.
Buses: 10, 14, 18, 24, 27, 29, 30, 73, 88, 134, 205, 390.
Booking information: tickets are available from 10.20 am on the day and may not be booked in advance.
Admission £10, concessions £8. Annual members £6/£4. Sorry no credit cards.
Membership details.

SUNDAY, 10 MARCH, 2019, 10:20 for 11:00

These Dangerous Women

Clapham Film Unit, UK, 2017 documentary, 24 min.

This documentary celebrates and commemorates the 100th anniversary of the International Congress of Women that took place on the 28th April 1915, when 1300 women from 12 countries – warring, neutral and allied – met at The Hague.

They advocated mediation between the politicians to end the First World War and proposed methods of settling future differences between nations by peaceful means

Women’s Peace Crusade

Dir. Charlotte Bill, UK, 2016/17, English, 22 min.

Script by Alison Ronan and Hazel Roy, featuring Florence King as Mabel Pythian and Emma Thomas as Lydia Leech.

Funded by AHRC via Voices for War and Peace

The Women's Peace Crusade swept like wildfire across Britain from 1916 -1918. This film tells the story of the North West women who took part in Manchester, Blackburn, Oldham, and Nelson. Speaker: Sheila Triggs

War Made Easy: How Presidents and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death

Dir. Loretta Alper, Jeremy Earp, USA, 2007, English, 73 min.

Based on Norman Solomon's book, War Made Easy reaches into the Orwellian memory hole to expose a 50-year pattern of government deception and media spin that has dragged the United States into one war after another from Vietnam to Iraq. Narrated by actor and activist Sean Penn, the film exhumes remarkable archival footage of official distortion and exaggeration from LBJ to George W. Bush, revealing in stunning detail how the American news media have uncritically disseminated the pro-war messages of successive presidential administrations.

Speakers: Kate Hudson, CND, Chris Nineham, Stop The War Coalition

SUNDAY, 10 FEBRUARY, 2019, 10:30 AM FOR 11:00 AM

FIRE AT SEA

Gianfranco Rosi, Italy France, 2016, 12, English/Italian, [EST] 109 min.

Samuel is 12 years old and lives on an island in the middle of the sea. He goes to school, loves shooting his slingshot and hunting. He likes land games, even though everything around him speaks of the sea and the men, women, and children who try to cross to his island. But his is not an island like the others. It is Lampedusa and has been the most symbolic gateway to Europe for thousands of would-be immigrants in the last 20 years.

SUNDAY, 13 JANUARY, 2019, 10:20 for 11 am

The Well: Water Voices from Ethiopia

Paulo Barbieri & Ricardo Russo, Ethiopia/Italy, [EST] 56 min.

This is the Horn of Africa, a region of the world that is periodically shocked by terrible droughts. Each year to prepare for the coming dry season, Borana herders will gather their livestock and walk for days to the dry Oromia Lowlands (South of Ethiopia) to retrieve water from their secular astonishing “singing” wells. With its strong photography and its epic narration, the film follows their lives during a whole dry season, showing a unique traditional water management system that regulates what water is available as the property and right of everyone, without any money being exchanged

Living on One Dollar

Zach Ingrasci (co-director), Sean Leonard (co-director), 56 min. 2013, Documentary/Drama Guatemala/USA, English/Spanish [EST]

Four American friends set out to live on just one dollar a day for two months in rural Guatemala. They battle hunger, parasites, and extreme stress to survive.

This terrible experience is, however, the reality of life for over 1.1 billion people around the world. While the friends quickly learn there are no easy answers, the generosity and strength of Rosa, a 20-year-old woman, and Chino, a 12-year-old boy, give them resilient hope that there are effective ways to make a difference.

discussion, followed by Q&A's

Screenings are at Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DL.
Nearest tube: Warren Street. Overground: Euston.
Buses: 10, 14, 18, 24, 27, 29, 30, 73, 88, 134, 205, 390.
Booking information: tickets are available from 10.20 am on the day and may not be booked in advance.
Admission £10, concessions £8. Annual members £6/£4. Sorry, no credit cards.
Membership details.

Former: SUNDAY, 9 DECEMBER 2018, 10:20 for 11am

Lemon Tree

Eran Riklis, IS/GE/FR, 2008, Hebrew/Arabic/English [EST], 106 mins.

The lemon grove of the title is a peaceful place for Palestinian widow Salma (Hiam Abbass), who learned to cultivate it from her late father. But trouble comes when new Israeli Defense Minister Israel Navon (Doron Tavory) and wife Mira (Rona Lipaz-Michael) move nearby into a decidedly upscale house. Their security team believes that Salma’s mass of lemon trees will allow terrorists to hide, so the order comes to level the grove.

Riklis has fashioned a gem of a script with former Palestinian journalist Suha Arraf. And Rainer Klausmann’s super 16mm cinematography, perfectly suited to the warmth and modesty of the film, delicately captures all corners of the border settings.

SUNDAY, 11 NOVEMBER 2018, 10:20 for 11:00 AM SCREENING

The Murderers are Amongst Us

Wolfgang Staudte, Germany/USA, 1946, U, German [EST], 85 mins
Berlin in 1945 after Germany's defeat in the war. The former military surgeon Dr. Hans Mertens stumbles down the street, drunk. He suffers from flashbacks of the war and has an aversion to people in pain, which prevents him from practising medicine. Instead, he spends his days drinking. An artist and Nazi concentration camp survivor, Susanne Wallner finds him living in her apartment as she returns home. They reluctantly live together at first, then become friends.

The St Pancras Rent Strike

Camden New Town History Project, UK, 2017, English, 30 mins.
The 1959/60 St Pancras council tenants’ rent strike came about through tenants’ opposition to the St Pancras Conservative Council’s decision to implement a rent scheme that set maximum and minimum rents based on the rateable value of their properties. The impact of the scheme was massive rent increases and council rents being brought up to levels set for private tenants in the 1957 Rent Act.

Speakers: Member of the Camden Town History Project

Screenings are at Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Way, London W1T 5DL.

Nearest tube: Warren Street. Overground: Euston.
Buses: 10, 14, 18, 24, 27, 29, 30, 73, 88, 134, 205, 390.
Booking information: tickets are available from 10.20 am on the day and may not be booked in advance.
Admission £10, concessions £8. Annual members £6/£4. Sorry no credit cards.
Membership details.

Sunday, 14 October 2018, 10:20 for 11 am screening of:

The Spider’s Web: Britain’s Second Empire

Michael Oswald, 2017, UK/USA, TV-PG, English, 80 mins.

The Spider’s Web: Britain’s Second Empire, is a documentary film that shows how Britain transformed from a colonial power into a global financial power. At the demise of empire, City of London financial interests created a web of offshore secrecy jurisdictions that captured wealth from across the globe and hid it behind obscure financial structures in a web of offshore islands. Today, up to half of the global offshore wealth may be hidden in British offshore jurisdictions and Britain and its offshore jurisdictions are the largest global players in the world of international finance. How did this come about, and what impact does it have on the world today? This is what the Spider’s Web sets out to investigate

Speakers: John Christensen, film co-producer, Speaker from Jubilee Debt Campaign

The Story Of Stuff

Ann Leonard, USA, 2009, English, 21 min.

From its extraction through sale, use, and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. It exposes the connections between many of environmental and social issues and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It'll teach you something, it'll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.