Whether covering the dashed hopes of the Egyptian revolution, the upheavals in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from Ramallah or Gaza, the reality of refugee camps in Turkey, or the faultiness of Iraq’s bloody divisions, the man is on a mission to share the issues on the ground with his readers. But to cope with the new communications jungle, choose the subjects he wants and make the front page, he must set himself apart from traditional mass media.

Watch the trailer here: https://vimeo.com/185352249

Jesse will be joined on the stage for the Q&A by Rossalyn Warren

Rossalyn is an award-winning foreign affairs journalist. Her reporting has been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, Guardian, BuzzFeed News, VICE, CNN, BBC, ELLE, Newsweek, and Teen Vogue, among other places. She’s reported from 15 countries across Latin America, Europe, and Africa, and her reporting has been nominated for an Orwell Prize and a British Journalism Award. Rossalyn was named news reporter of the year at the 2016 Words By Women Awards, and she was shortlisted for new journalist of the year at the 2015 British Journalism Awards. Forbes named Rossalyn ’30 Under 30′ in media in Europe.

The panel consisted of award-winning filmmakers Liam Saint-Pierre, Chloe White, Marc Silver, and Gemma Atkinson, with documentary programmer and DocHouse producer Jenny Horwell moderating the discussion. 

The discussion began with an overview of techniques and inspirations from each filmmaker – and it was soon evident that the speakers did not stick to any unchangeable formula in their work.

“There is no process for when I’m making films,” Silver said, with White adding that he views himself as “more of a spontaneous filmmaker.”

Atkinson said: “I let the character dictate what direction the film goes in, rather than going into it with a big plan, which means it can go in any direction.”

“It has been quite nice to hear the others tonight, often I thought it was just me who was so haphazard!,”commented Saint-Pierre.

Great to see such a talented, eloquent bunch of documentary makers at @frontlineclub. Time I dusted off the camera. pic.twitter.com/JXSRVQbox4

— Peter Yeung (@ptr_yeung) February 15, 2016

Although there was a general consensus that the creative process should not be formulaic, three elements were highlighted for their significance at the start of a project: inspiration by way of specific characters, places, and issues.

“I like characters who are really passionate about something, and they are kind of on the edge of society,” said Saint-Pierre, as he explained how he found the shopkeeper around whom his first film centred.

Silver added: “for me, the place is a character. It’s not just the people, but also the essence of a place.”

Each of the panellists agreed that they aimed to spend as much time as possible with their subjects. Silver explained that on a five-day shoot, he would try and spend the first two days with his subjects without his camera. “I might take a stills camera, just for fun. But I’ve learnt from the past that I don’t need to over-shoot – and also I need to get past the first layer with that person and gain trust.”

However, the panel also reflected on how working with tight budgets and shorter timelines meant that the aim of spending significant time with their subjects was often unrealistic.

Horwell then moved the discussion onto one of the final stages of short documentary production: the editing process.

She asked the filmmakers to comment on their top tips for this stage, and how they avoid common mistakes.

“Hold the shot for longer than you plan. Whatever time you are holding it for, add an extra 5-10 seconds” Atkinson advised.

White agreed, and cemented the point with an extended clip from her film The Long Haul: “At the time I didn’t know that shot would be so useful, but trusting your shots and holding them for a long time, you’ll be thankful when it comes to the edit.”

Saint-Pierre added that for him “it was a matter of the character; you don’t want to turn the camera off. Often I’ve done it and then missed an amazing moment.”

The conversation did not run chronologically through the filmmaking process due to the non-linear nature of short documentary production – as Horwell had predicted – and the discussion touched on subjects including the use of ‘playful’ introductions, to how to best distribute your content online.

On Friday 22 January 2016, a panel joined a packed audience at the Frontline Club for a lively discussion following the London premiere screening of Michelle Shephard‘s Guantanamo’s Child. With unprecedented access to former fellow prisoners, family members and government officials, the documentary explores the political and ethical implications of the harrowing case of Omar Khadr.

Richard Gizbert, presenter of The Listening Post on Al Jazeera English, moderated the discussion. The panel was comprised of investigative reporter and filmmaker, Michelle Shephard; former Guantanamo Bay prisoner and director of outreach at CAGE, Moazzam Begg; and Cori Crider, head of the Abuses in Counter-Terrorism team at Reprieve.

“All the best work that comes out of Guantanamo either has her name or Karen Rosenberg’s on it,” Gizbert began, praising Shephard‘s substantial journalistic achievements in investigating Camp Gitmo over the past decade.

Still buzzing from tonight’s event at @frontlineclub – the film and discussion after were brilliant #mustseefilm pic.twitter.com/lItRso6GXE

— Camilla Pallesen (@CMPallesen) January 22, 2016

Shephard began by elaborating on her experiences and knowledge of Guantanamo Bay, broadly explaining why certain people were imprisoned and others were not. “What decided how you were dealt with and when you were released from Guantanamo was not the merits or demerits of your case, but what passport you held (…) Guantanamo was never created as a place to try for war crimes. It was created as an intelligence gathering unit.”

Gizbert then asked Begg if the film fell short of capturing the difficult times experienced during his imprisonment. He responded: “There is a part of the story you will never get to see. For example, the conversations I had with my lawyer while at Guantanamo were classified. When I left, I asked for the notes of these meetings and they told me I can’t have them because they are classified.”

Referring to the strict rules that journalists experience when covering Guantanamo, Begg continued: “When you can’t film a person’s face, when you can’t show what he looks like, what his expressions are, and how he feels, it takes away from the humanity of the situation.”

Crider picked up on this point and expressed her respect for lawyer Dennis Edney. He features heavily in the documentary as Khadr’s lawyer, and his role in exposing Khadr’s story has been an essential one. “So much of what the Guantanamo lawyer has to do isn’t traditional legal work in any event. They have to get these stories past the censors and into the world to convey these peoples’ humanity. I think for a solo practitioner to do something like this for Omar is absolutely extraordinary.”

Gizbert asked how important it was that a wide range of characters – such as the interrogators and military lawyer – were included in the telling and depiction of the story.

Shephard responded: “It was really essential to get all voices in [the documentary]. Omar Khadr was seen as a murderer and rapist on the extreme right, and Nelson Mandela on the extreme left. He thought he was neither. So we really wanted to break down that character, but not do it in an activist way. We wanted to get the most complete picture possible.”

Indeed, the panellists agreed that the fields of human rights and counter-terrorism are never “black and white.” This ambiguity was highlighted by Begg, who concluded the discussion with a comment on his former interrogators and prison guards at Guantanamo: “I have 15 of them on Facebook, as friends.”

For information on future screenings, please click here.

Panelists debate the implications of Kenya’s recent election results.

The event on the 11 March at the Frontline Club was a panel debate analysing the previous week’s much anticipated election results in Kenya. The panel, chaired by Audrey Brown, producer and presenter on BBC Focus on Africa and Network Africa, examined the implications of Uhuru Kenyatta election as Kenya’s new President, despite being wanted by the International Criminal Court. Kenya’s past and future played a central part in the evening as panelists and audience decoded the recent election results under the shadow of its 2007 post-election violence, and asked ‘what is going to happen next?’

The evening began with a stern warning from panelist Mathias Muindi, currently editor with the BBC Monitoring office in Nairobi.

“The Kenyan story has just begun…it is one which continues to confound…one of my biggest fears is that the war has just been postponed to another time.”

Echoing this caution, panelist Daniel Branch, associate professor of African history at the University of Warwick, commented on the narrative emerging around the recent election process:

“On the one hand I breathed a huge sigh of relief this week that things didn’t go badly. On the other hand I think there has been an excessive haste to declare the election a good process and to ignore significant problems with Kenya’s institutions.”

Natznet Tesfay head of Africa Forecasting at Exclusive Analysis Ltd, expanded on this point, arguing that the reaction of the judiciary would be pivotal.

“One important institution which will truly tested over the coming weeks is the judiciary, specifically the supreme court. You have now had judicial reform and you’ve also had policies whereby you can file a petition within seven days of the announced results. The panel has unanimously agreed that it is likely to be done by Raila Odinga and possibly other candidates. Now this is likely to be a true test of where the government is going and to see whether the judiciary has matured enough to make this decision. However, the ICC will still be the biggest aggravator in the situation going forward.”

The panel agreed that beneath the legalities of the recent election lay more fundamental problems with serious implications for Kenya’s future.

“What Kenyans have elected is a divided central government”, Branch argued. “They don’t agree on the most fundamental issue to Kenya which is devolution. It is very easy to see an argument coming up about distribution of resources, about oil and gas, and about major development projects. The question is, who is going to reap the rewards? This really gets to the heart of what politics in this country is going to be like when you take the ICC out of the picture.”

The evening concluded with a question from the audience about whether there was space for hope in Kenya’s future. Branch cited the importance of the fundamental, and growing, problem of inequality in the country’s future. Muindi and Tesfay took a more positive line, with the latter citing the growth of internet penetration, a youthful population and a synergy coming from the ground up as serious basis for optimism.

Watch the full debate here:

The fertile plains of the Orontes River in rural Idlib used to be a place of peaceful coexistence for Syria’s many sects and religions. Today, the river marks a sectarian frontline: on one side, the Free Syrian Army holds ground in Sunni villages whose residents are calling for the fall of the regime. Only 2km away, Alawite villagers remain fiercely loyal to the government, and gladly host army checkpoints that fire shells and mortars into the Sunni villages across the valley on a daily basis.

As the Syrian conflict enters its third year, this documentary offers a shocking window on its increasingly sectarian nature. For five weeks, award winning documentary filmmaker Olly Lambert lived on both sides of this frontline: living with Alawite loyalists and government supporters on one side, as well as the FSA and Sunni refugees on the other.

In Syria – Across the Lines Lambert documents a graphic and unflinching portrait of a society cleaving apart in the face of dwindling international support, escalating violence and a growing mutual desire for revenge.

Directed by Olly Lambert
Duration: 52′
Year: 2013

Last night’s talk was a whistle stop tour through the history of the Frontline News Television agency, with its two surviving founding members, Vaughan Smith and Peter Jouvenal, in conversation with long-time cohort, BBC World Affairs Editor John Simpson.

From FNTV’s origins over a Christmas dinner amid the chaos of the Romanian revolution in December 1989, to its eventual suspension in 2003, this outfit for freelance video reporters has spanned from the journalistic sublime to the ridiculous. The madcap ideas of flying into warzones by microlight or launching an extreme tourism business were balanced by such successes as getting the first images of Afghans fighting the Russians with Stinger missiles, proving that the Americans were supplying the mujahideen with modern equipment.

The spirit of FNTV was captured in the first image we saw of Rory Peck and Peter standing next to a shattered helicopter before a backdrop of the Afghan mountains. When asked if that was the helicopter that flew them in, Peter replied deadpan: “No, we actually walked across the border from Tajikistan.”

Such determination and innovation characterised the agency, which adapted to compete in an industry that often treated freelances as outsiders.

“We were the first group to start using these small cameras. We responded to the available technology, like the computer editing system and satellites. We were early adopters because that’s where the opportunity was to get into the news industry.” — Vaughan Smith

This resourcefulness resulted in one of FNTV’s central successes when Vaughan impersonated a British officer to circumvent the ‘grotesque news management’ of the reporter-embedding system during the Gulf War in 1991. This masquerade produced the only footage of rockets heading for Iraq, and in John Simpson’s words: “The best piece of combat footage I’ve ever seen.”

Peter’s recount of filming the civil war in Liberia touched on the humour of being chased down a street by gangs fresh from looting bridal and lighting shops – wearing full wedding gowns and lampshades on their heads – and the horror of witnessing the murder of a mother and child and the ethics of reporting in conflict.

“I tend to film things that sometimes are not very palatable, but I see it as my job to record these events…. It’s very important to stay neutral. My job it to witness it and film it…. It’s a very difficult position to be in and quite dangerous. The Afghans always kill for a purpose which you can figure out and avoid those situations, but in the case of Liberia, they would kill for no reason.” — Peter Jouvenal

Of course it’s a dangerous job. Vaughan maintains that he’s been shot more times than he’s been credited by the BBC, and not all of the FNTV cameramen survived – founding members Rory Peck and Nick della Casa both died in conflict – and absent friends were remembered last night.

“It’s not a safe job, but then, as Tira Shubart said to me, whoever said that journalism should be safe? Safe journalism is the kind of journalism you don’t want to be a part of.” — John Simpson

Mama Illegal is a film about the sacrifices made by three Moldovan women who leave their homes and families to work illegally as cleaners in Italy and Austria. 

Enduring long separations from their children, and leaving their families to face the hardships of life in Europe’s poorest country, the women hope to pave the way for a better future.

Director Ed Moschitz follows the women from 2004-2007 in an attempt to shed light on the often ignored suffering of economic migrants.  

**Official Competion IDFA 2011**

Director: Ed Moschitz 

Year: 2011

Length: 102′

A year ago Cairo’s "Twitterati" tweeted their revolution for 18 days in and around Tahrir Square. Young, urbane and highly motivated, their tweets revealed the truth of the scale of the uprising which Egypt’s state media sought to hide. It gave a street-level minute-by-minute account of the bravery and persistence of the Egyptian people which resulted in the downfall of a dictator. A year later Al Jazeera talks to some of those who posted on twitter to hear in more than 140 characters what they thought then, and what they feel now about developments since the heady days of February 2011. The film film is based on a book by Alex Nunns and Nadia Idle of the same name and published by OR books. For more information on the book see: http://www.orbooks.com/catalog/tweets-from-tahrir/ 

Screenings from the Frontline with Al Jazeera is a new initiative to contextualize the news and working experiences of journalists and filmmakers reporting out of the political hotspots of our time. It aims to bridge the gap between the British audience and the biggest events taking place in modern history by showing a pre-broadcast special report with the presence of people involved in making them. Each screening pays homage to the groundbreaking work of filmmakers and journalists that risk their lives to provide in-depth reports to people across the globe as and when the events occur. 

Director: Damian Clarke

Length: 48′

Year: 2012

In 2008, a baby girl is born in Bhopal, India, the site of the worst industrial disaster in history: the Union Carbide gas leak.

What should be a celebration is a tragedy. She has severe birth defects due to the contaminated water. The American corporation involved still refuses to take responsibility and make amends for the 1984 industrial disaster which contaminated the city of Bhopal, India.

Approximately 8,000 died in the immediate aftermath and 100.000 people are suffering from the heath effects of the contamination that remains in the groundwater. The death toll continues to rise. 

Award-winning director Van Maximilian Carlson paints a chilling portrait of shattered lives and the gross negligence and class inequality that keeps the people of Bhopal from finding justice and safety.

Bhopali is set with the backdrop of the on the 25th anniversary of the event and shows the fight to hold American corporation Union Carbide accountable for their actions. 

 * Grand Jury Best Documentary Award, 2011 Slamdance Film Festival
 * Documentary Audience Award, 2011 Slamdance Film Festival
 * Best Documentary Award, 2011 New York Indian Film Festival
 * Best Documentary Award, 2011 Los Angeles International Film Festival
 * Best Director, 2011 Los Angeles International Film Festival
 * Best Documentary Special Jury Award, 2011 Beverly Hills Film Festival
 * Best Documentary Award, 2011 San Francisco United Film Festival

Directed by: Van Maximilian Carlson
Year: 2011
Running Time: 80′

In 2008, a baby girl is born in Bhopal, India, the site of the worst industrial disaster in history: the Union Carbide gas leak.

What should be a celebration is a tragedy. She has severe birth defects due to the contaminated water. The American corporation involved still refuses to take responsibility and make amends for the 1984 industrial disaster which contaminated the city of Bhopal, India.

Approximately 8,000 died in the immediate aftermath and 100.000 people are suffering from the heath effects of the contamination that remains in the groundwater. The death toll continues to rise. 

Award-winning director Van Maximilian Carlson paints a chilling portrait of shattered lives and the gross negligence and class inequality that keeps the people of Bhopal from finding justice and safety.

Bhopali is set with the backdrop of the on the 25th anniversary of the event and shows the fight to hold American corporation Union Carbide accountable for their actions. 

 * Grand Jury Best Documentary Award, 2011 Slamdance Film Festival
 * Documentary Audience Award, 2011 Slamdance Film Festival
 * Best Documentary Award, 2011 New York Indian Film Festival
 * Best Documentary Award, 2011 Los Angeles International Film Festival
 * Best Director, 2011 Los Angeles International Film Festival
 * Best Documentary Special Jury Award, 2011 Beverly Hills Film Festival
 * Best Documentary Award, 2011 San Francisco United Film Festival

Directed by: Van Maximilian Carlson
Year: 2011
Running Time: 80′