A new ICRC, report called ‘I Saw My City Die’ found that between 2010 and 2015, nearly half of all civilian war deaths worldwide occurred in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The majority of these deaths have taken place in cities: Mosul, Aleppo and Taiz. Join our panel to discuss the emerging trend of War in Cities, with comparative studies of different cities and nations, over recent years.
“Over the past three years, our research shows that wars in cities accounted for a shocking 70% of all civilian deaths in Iraq and Syria”, said the ICRC’s Regional Director for the Middle East, Robert Mardini. “This illustrates just how deadly these battles have become. This is all the more alarming as offensives get underway in cities like Raqqa in Syria, or intensify in Mosul, Iraq. A new scale of urban suffering is emerging, where no one and nothing is spared by the violence.”
The conflicts in these countries have resulted in internal displacement and migration levels unprecedented since WWII. More than 17 million Iraqis, Syrians and Yemenis have fled their homes. And these battles risk becoming even more protracted if real political solutions are not found soon. Wars in cities are so devastating because of the way in which they are being fought. Armed parties are failing to distinguish between military objectives and civilian infrastructure – or worse, they are using or directly targeting them.
Chair
Nawal Al-Maghafi is an award-winning film journalist specialising on the Middle East. She has worked for BBC Newsnight, BBC World, Middle East Eye and Reuters amongst others. She has reported extensively from Yemen, focusing on the humanitarian situation and the West’s involvement in the conflict. Al-Maghafi was nominated for a Frontline Club Award 2017 for her film covering the human cost of the war in Yemen.
Speakers
Pawel Krzysiek has been working in communications in Syria for much of the war for the ICRC, much of his work has been to cross the frontline of war zones, into besieged towns. He is a primary contributor to this report covering the section on Syria.
Joshua Baker is a documentary filmmaker and a journalist and a contributor to the ICRC Report focusing on the section of ‘Mosul’. Baker was on the frontline with Iraqi special forces as they pushed into civilian neighbourhoods during the battle for Mosul. He witnessed first-hand how civilians were being caught up in the fighting, particularly when a suicide bomb detonated right in front of him. He began his career in print working for The Times as Foreign News Night Editor. More recently Baker completed Africa’s Billion Pound Migrant Trail with Benjamin Zand for BBC. Earlier this year he was an Investigative Producer on two films for BBC Panorama following the terror attacks in Manchester and London, where he secured access to a friend of the Manchester bomber. His film The Battle For Mosul (US title Battle for Iraq) for PBS Frontline and The Guardian was shortlisted for best TV Documentary category at the One World Media Awards and listed for a Grierson Award.
Roland Oliphant is a Senior Foreign correspondent to the Telegraph and until recently covered Russia and the former Soviet Union from the Moscow bureau. He has reported on the Ukrainian revolution and civil war from Kiev, Crimea, and Eastern Ukraine.
Iona Craig is an independent Irish-British journalist. Her work currently focuses on Yemen and the Arabian Peninsula. Iona lived in Sana’a from 2010 to 2015 as The Times (of London) Yemen correspondent. She continues to travel back and forth from the country to report on the conflict and deteriorating humanitarian crisis. In June 2014 she won the UK’s most prestigious investigative journalism award, The Martha Gellhorn Prize. Her reporting on an American drone strike that hit a wedding convoy in Yemen was awarded the Frontline Club print award for 2014.
Albina Kovalyova is Television correspondent and producer covering Russia, Ukraine, CIS for FSN and Channel 4 News. Kovalyova has just returned from East Ukraine after doing a report on the impact of fighting on civilian life in front line towns in the country.
Photo Credits: ICRC
]]>Oleg’s Choice gives a unique and personal perspective to the conflict in the Ukraine. Since the summer of 2014, thousands of young Russians poured into the Donbass region of Eastern Ukraine. Driven by propaganda on Russian television, they believed they were fulfilling their patriotic duty.
Amongst the first wave of volunteers was Oleg and Max. Oleg was appointed battalion commander, while Max became a soldier. But their illusions were shattered on the night of June 3rd 2015, when a battle went horribly wrong. Oleg ended up leading many of his men to their death.
While Oleg and Max continue to fight, they discuss their motivations and share their own perspective on the conflict. Oleg’s Choice serves as a uniquely personal testimony of one side of the war rarely seen in the western media.
Directed by: Elena Volochine and James Keogh
Produced by: Little Big Story Films
Runtime: 74′
Year: 2016
The festival is divided into two halves: ‘Documenting Ukraine: Theatre’ (14–15 May 2015) features two live performances at GRAD: Gallery for Russian Arts and Design, before ‘Documenting Ukraine: Cinema’ (16–17 May 2015) sees a full program of contemporary Ukrainian documentary films at Frontline Club.
Documenting Ukraine, two days of cinema and debate presents nine film screenings with Q&A discussions and special panels exploring the realities of modern Ukraine and the depth of Ukrainian cinema.
Day passes are available for £14, as well as full weekend passes for £22. Booking through this page reserves you a ticket for Sunday’s events.
Sunday May 17 programme:
14:00 UK Premiere: The Donetsk People’s Republic, Or The Curious Tale of the Handmade Country (53’) plus discussion
This is an unfiltered, fly-on-the-wall account of how the Donetsk People’s Republic came into being, filmed with astonishing access from May to April 2014, followed by a discussion with Anthony Butts, Nataliya Gumenyuk, Andrew Wilson, and Orysia Lutsevych.
16:30 UK Premiere: Crepuscule + Q&A
Screening followed by Q&A with director Valentyn Vasyanovych.
Valentyn Vasyanovych joins us to present his acclaimed documentary about a mother and son living in a remote province of Ukraine.
18.30 The Eleventh Year with international premiere of live score by Anton Baibakov
Dziga Vertov’s silent documentary, digitally remastered with a live score performed by Anton Baibakov including the UK premiere of the film’s recently discovered animation trailer.
@OpenCityDocs
Documenting Ukraine is a four-day umbrella festival organised by Open City Docs, Frontline Club and GRAD, bringing Ukraine’s leading names in documentary cinema and theatre to London this May.
The festival is divided into two halves: ‘Documenting Ukraine: Theatre’ (14–15 May 2015) features two live performances at GRAD: Gallery for Russian Arts and Design, and ‘Documenting Ukraine: Cinema’ (16–17 May 2015) sees a full program of contemporary Ukrainian documentary films at Frontline Club.
Documenting Ukraine: Two Days of Cinema and Debate presents nine film screenings with Q&A discussions and special panels exploring the realities of modern Ukraine and the depth of Ukrainian cinema.
In collaboration with our partners, Open Democracy Russia and DocudaysUA, we are delighted to give audiences the chance to see a rich programme of Ukrainian documentaries rarely presented in UK cinemas, from a live performance of Dziga Vertov’s silent 1928 documentary The Eleventh Year, to a work-in-progress screening of Askold Kurov’s urgent film about the imprisonment of Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov.
The weekend’s events bring together Ukrainian and British filmmakers and experts to explore the intersection of cinema, culture and politics in Ukraine, with films and discussions examining the Maidan protests that brought about the downfall of President Yanukovych’s regime in 2014 and recent conflict in Donbass, as well as reflecting on Ukraine’s longer history and relationship with the Soviet Union.
We are extremely grateful to the O’NEILL CONSULTANCY for their generous support which has made this event possible.
Day passes are available for £14 as well as full weekend passes for £22. The festival is free for Frontline Club members.
Booking through this page reserves you a full weekend pass. See the links below for the programmes by day.
@OpenCityDocs
Day passes are available for £14, as well as full weekend passes for £22. Booking through this page reserves you a ticket for Saturday’s events.
Saturday May 16 Programme:
12:00 UK Premiere – Ukraine: When the Countdown Began (90’)
A complex and comprehensively sourced documentary about the emergence of an independent Ukraine from the ruins of the USSR in 1991 with interviews with all the major players including Leonid Kravchuk, Zbigniew Brzezinski, Gennadiy Burbulis, Levko Lukyanenko & James Baker.
14:00 Preview Screening: The Bright Future of Oleg Sentsov + Discussion with Agnieszka Holland & Askold Kurov
We’re delighted to present a rough cut of material from Askold Kurov’s ongoing documentary about the plight of the Ukrainian filmmaker, plus a discussion with Oscar-nominated filmmaker Agnieszka Holland.
Sometimes the borders of political events come so close to the borders of your own creative freedom that you have no other choice but to participate. That’s what happened to Oleg Sentsov, who was arrested by the Russian Federal Security Service on suspicion of plotting terrorist acts and could now face 20 years in jail. Sentsov’s debut film Gámer premiered in 2011 to critical acclaim, but his second feature was put on hold when protests broke out in Ukraine. Sentsov supported the Euromaidan movement in Kiev and participated in the rallies against Russian occupation in Crimea. Despite protests against his arrest, international condemnation and a campaign by filmmakers Pedro Almodovar, Wim Wenders, Mike Leigh, Krzysztof Zanussi, Andrzej Wajda and Bela Tarr, the Russian authorities have refused to consider his release.
15:00 Double-bill: Tomorrow is a Holiday (26’) & UK PREMIERE of Mum Died on Saturday in the Kitchen (52’) + Q&A exploring Ukrainian cinema since 1986 with Raisa Sidenova, Serhiy Bukovsky, and Maxym Vasyanovych
Serhiy Bukovsky’s subversive 1987 documentary about a Soviet factory, followed by Maxym Vasyanovych’s tender portrait of his family in the Ukrainian SSR.
17:45-19:30 Maidan Shorts (26’) + Discussion
A special screening of shorts and clips reflecting on the Euromaidan movement in Ukraine, followed by a discussion with filmmakers and academics. For the discussion we will be joined by Roman Bondarchuk, Natalia Gumenyuk, Serhiy Buchovsky, Rory Finnin & Olesya Khromeychuk
19:30 Reception and sale of photographic prints by Aleksandr Glyadelov
A selection of compelling photographs by Aleksandr Glyadelov from Maidan last year and from the fighting in the east of Ukraine in 2015.
Yulia Serdukova from DocudaysUA writes:
Glyadyelov still takes pictures the old way, in black-and-white on an analog cameras with manual focus, a mechanical shutter system and no burst mode. It seems as if these details are strictly technical, but this makes his work conceptually different from the stream of images we see every day. It is almost impossible to film like that in the middle of a fight. That is why the cameraman has to scan what is going on during pauses. In other words, he films not death, but life. Then he develops his films and makes photographic prints manually; that takes time. You cannot shoot news broadcasts this way – that’s why the cameraman has to gaze at non-transitory things.
One of my friends who has been visiting the war zone as a journalist all this time called the trees split by artillery shells the scariest things of the war. This picture tells me a hundred times more about shell attacks than burning Grad warheads or even destroyed houses (which are eventually seen on TV).
Gazing into the faces of the people hiding from a shell attack or peacefully napping soldiers I see the same broken trees. Many of those people are already gone. But the anxiety and hope from their eyes spreads through these pictures like the force wave from an explosion, meeting practically no resistance.
In a recent interview Glyadyelov himself said: “We are unfortunately too accustomed to statistical reports: The day before yesterday 3 people were killed and 7 injured. Well, I give another way of looking. When you know people directly, you can’t forget what is really going on. The sharpness cones back. And yes, when I’m there, I try to photograph the people because then you will not forget what is happening.”
@OpenCityDocs
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