Change at Frontline – Frontline Club

POSTPONED: Screening – Teenage Miners

Charlotte Cook — Mon, 05 Sep 2011 19:00:00 +0000

The story of poverty-stricken teenagers forced to work in the tin mines of Bolivia as labour unions turn a blind eye to the blatant violation the country’s laws in order to help underprivileged families earn more money by sending their teenagers to work.

In this latest film by Rodrigo Vazquez we meet again Jorge Mollinedo and Alex Choquehe from his earlier film Child Miners as they search for a way out of desperate poverty and lives blighted by ill health as a result of their work.

With an opening in local education under the Bolivian government, the boys begin to learn how their lives can change.

We will be showing both Child Miners and Teenage Miners together unabridged to bring viewers up to date with the miner’s extraordinary story.

Directed by Rodrigo Vazquez
60mins
2011

Change Season: Screening – An African Election

Charlotte Cook — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Set against the backdrop of the 2008 presidential election in Ghana, An African Election shows the complexities of a country struggling to prove the credibility of its democracy to the rest of the world.

Director Jarreth Merz follows the key players for almost three months to provide a behind-the-scenes look at the parties, experts, and citizens participating in the election. Full of suspense, the film is an unprecedented insider’s view of the political, economic and social forces at work in the West African country as it struggles to legitimise itself to the rest of the world.

With both political parties prepared to do almost anything to win, the film depicts the threat of violence and allegations of cheating while leading viewers to the heart-pounding climax of a momentous election.

Directed by Jarreth Merz
2011
89 mins

This screening is kindly supported by Dogwoof and is part of a season of their films showing at the club. More details of the season are here.

Change Season: Screening – The Truth That Wasn’t There

Charlotte Cook — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 19:00:00 +0000

The Truth that Wasn’t There offers an unprecedented view into the aftermath of the civil war in Sri Lanka that ended in 2009.

Filmed by three novice students shortly after the conflict ended, the film explores not just the gap between propaganda and truth, but the frightening responsibility of war reportage for these young, inexperienced filmmakers.

Given unparallelled access to victims of the war’s atrocities and the infamous camps for the internally displaced, the three young journalists struggle to keep afloat in the mix of lies, brutality, and an onslaught of previously unknown information.

By examining both the facts of the war and the weight of the burden of reporting it, The Truth that Wasn’t There raises important questions about journalistic integrity and responsibility.

In exploring what happens when young and inexperienced journalists and filmmakers are thrown into the deep end of an internationally important story, the film touches the heart of debates about documentary, objectivism, information, and reportage.

Directed by Guy Gunaratne

80 Minutes

2010

FULLY BOOKED: Screening – Cocaine Unwrapped

Charlotte Cook — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Cocaine Unwrapped takes on the global economy and human toll of the ‘war’ on cocaine. From the farmers in Bolivia who grow coca leaves as their livelihood to Bolivian single mothers who are drug mules out of crippling poverty to the violence of the Mexican trafficking trade where thousands die every year, the film explores the international network of violence, imprisonment, poverty, and addiction that the drug causes in it’s wake. The film even documents the effects on the consumers, from gang dealers in Baltimore who face longer imprisonment sentences than violent offenders to users in London who are apathetic, or unaware, as to how cocaine reached them.

Painting a multi-faced portrait of the role of cocaine in a society that attempts to define the ‘war on drugs’ in absolutes, director Rachel Seifert not only accounts for the environmental and human costs of the drug in South America and beyond, but the seemingly illogical and misunderstood process of incarceration for dealing it. These tragedies make up a global network of miscommunication, violence, and cyclical poverty that seems fed on both the demand for, and illegality of, cocaine. Cocaine Unwrapped takes an un-biased view of one of the world’s largest drugs and dangerous commodities.

Directed by Rachel Seifert
80 mins
2011

Fully Booked: Screening – The Interrupters

Charlotte Cook — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 19:00:00 +0000

The Interrupters follows the ground-breaking work of three ‘violence interrupters’ working in the crime-filled streets of Chicago over the course of a year.

Inspired by personal connections to crime, the three members of Cease Fire walk the streets helping to stop the ‘disease’ of violence in the neighbourhoods and homes where conflicts arise.

Motivated by their own misdeeds, Ameena, Cobe and Eddie form strong relationships with the people they want to help. By physically putting themselves in the middle of conflicts, the three Cease Fire members invest their time in changing lives.

This moving film showcases an alternative system of reform which focuses on the individual to promote peace and understanding in one of the country’s most violent neighbourhoods.

Directed by Steve James
2011
144 minutes

This screening is kindly supported by Dogwoof and is part of a season of their films showing at the club. More details of the season are here.

Change Season: Preview Screening – You’ve Been Trumped

Charlotte Cook — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 19:00:00 +0000

A daring and provacative film, You’ve Been Trumped takes an investigate look into the effects of Donald Trump’s proposed luxury golf resort being built on what conservationists call the “crown jewels” of Scotland’s natural wildlife.

In the face of political pressure from the Scottish Government, filmmaker Anthony Baxter examines the devastating ecological impact of the course on the coastal landscape north of Aberdeen. We see residents who have had their water shut off, land ruined, and voices silenced in their attempts to reverse the decision to develop the property.

Combining press conferences with Trump, residents’ protests, environmental activists, and expert’s views, the film shows the extent of Donald Trump’s influence, his power and privilege and bullying tactics.

Directed by Anthony Baxter
95 mins
2011

Change Season: Screening – Children of the Revolution

Charlotte Cook — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 19:00:00 +0000

Children of the Revolution is a compelling and intricate portrait of Ulrike Meinhof of the German Red Army Faction and Fusako Shigenobu of the Japanese Red Army, as told through the unique position of their daughters. Facing their lives with the legacy and sometimes worship of their mothers, both daughters struggle to reconcile what their mothers did for the world and the truth of how their actions disrupted family life. Meinhof’s erratic behaviour and eventual suicide “led to the beginning of an unhappy family” in which her daughter argues the ends do not justify the means.

Both children try to live a life in which they too can change the world, but without violence and disruption. The daughters have both chosen journalism and objectivism to create a world of integrity in order to uphold criticism and understanding in an impartial forum. Children of the Revolution combines their stories with archival footage and family photographs to examine the impact of change on a country, on a person, and on a family.

2010
93 mins
Directed by Shane O’Sullivan

http://www.childrenoftherevolution.co.uk

Cancelled: Screening – Goodbye Mubarak

Charlotte Cook — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 18:00:00 +0000

Goodbye Mubarak examines the anger and discontent brewing in Egypt before people took to the streets on 25 January and ousted President Hosni Mubarak 18 days later.

Filmed in late 2010, Goodbye Mubarak shows the impact of the November legislative elections and the sense of outrage amid charges of ballot stuffing, bullying and dirty tricks by Mubarak’s National Democratic Party.

Showing Cairo’s residents just months before the protests and 18-day occupation of Tahrir Square, Katia Jarjoura’s new film reveals the extent to which everything was in place for revolution to happen.

Directed by Katia Jarjoura

72 minutes
2011