From Oscar-winning director, Danis Tanovic (No Man’s Land), comes a true story 12 years in the making. A Pakistani salesman, employed by Nestle, one of the world’s largest corporations, learns that his promotion of baby formula to doctors is causing babies to die. He risks everything to make it stop, taking on the industry with the help of Cambridge-based Baby Milk Action IBFAN UK.

A BBC Films/UK Film Council version of the film was halted weeks before production: with defamation laws operating as ‘guilty until proven innocent’ the huge potential costs of defending a true story in court meant that a transnational company could prevent a true story being told simply by virtue of its deep pockets. A few years later Indian producers Prashita Chaudhary and Guneet Monga finally made the film possible.

With a breakthrough performance from Bollywood favourite Emraan Hashmi and a cast including Danny Huston, Geetanjali Thapa, Khalid Abdalla, Maryam d’Abo and Satyadeep Misra, Tigers was shot in the Indian Punjab and London. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and in Official Competition at San Sebastian.

Running time: 90 minutes

Chair

Henry Porter is a novelist and former commentator for the Observer. He is a winner of the Ian Fleming Steel Dagger award –  for Brandenburg, his novel about  the Fall of the Berlin wall,  which he covered in 1989. His latest book, Firefly, is the story of young boy on the migrant route in 2015 and is the first part of a trilogy set in the turbulent world of US and European politics.

Speakers 

Syed Aamir Raza joined Nestlé Milkpak as a Medical Delegate in December 1994 at the age of 24. It was a dream come true to work for a multinational company and he was quickly indoctrinated with Nestlé’s “Be the Best” slogan. Aamir was responsible for promoting breastmilk substitutes and infant cereals. One of his first tasks was to run a baby show, already organised by the Area Detailing Executive. Baby shows were popular with health workers and mothers and provided an opportunity for marketing staff to make direct contact with both and to display the company’s range of breastmilk substitutes and discuss them. Such activities are banned by Article 5.5 of the International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and Nestlé’s own “Charter”. After the events that are depicted in Tigers,  Aamir came to the UK for 5 months, and then to Canada where he was granted leave to stay on humanitarian on compassionate grounds. He eventually gained permanent residence. It was 7 years before he was able to be reunited with Shafqat, his wife and his two children,  and in that time both his parents died. He now drives a Taxi in Toronto.

Patti Rundall has worked for over 30 years with Baby Milk Action and is the UK member of the global network IBFAN, campaigning for effective regulations on the marketing, safety and labelling of foods for infants and young children. She is a founder of the Conflict of Interest Coalition and a coordinator of the international Nestle Boycott. 

Andy Paterson’s productions include Gore, Tigers, The Railway Man and Girl With A Pearl Earring. Previous productions include the Oscar and BAFTA-nominated Hilary and Jackie, starring Emily Watson and Rachel Griffiths, and the Oscar-winning Restoration, starring Robert Downey Jr, Hugh Grant and Meg Ryan. Forthcoming productions include The Plutonium Club, a Cold War thriller set against the development of the British atomic bomb from a screenplay by Paterson and Hetreed.

Cat Villiers and her company Autonomous, have produced, executive produced and co-produced many films around the world. With a career that has has also encompassed journalism, philanthropy and activism, her first feature film Before The Rain won the Venice Film Festival’s Golden Lion, an Independent Spirit Award, and an Academy Award Nomination. Cat is a Trustee, with directors Mike Leigh and Simon Mcburney of the Katrin Cartlidge Foundation, a UK charitable trust that supports new directorial talent and other cultural initiatives from around the world.

In 2014, Ukraine was in the depths of a health crisis, with infectious diseases and disastrous levels of cardiovascular conditions contributing to low life expectancy and general misery. Officials and their allies in the pharmaceutical industry were embezzling much of the state medical budget, leaving scant resources for doctors’ salaries, medicines or vital equipment.

What has followed has been one of the most successful hands-on anti-corruption interventions in history. Three international bodies took over procurement, and succeeded in cutting prices by 40 percent. Hosted as usual by investigative journalist Oliver Bullough, the first kleptoscope of 2019 looks at how this happened, what obstacles it faced, and whether it could be a blueprint for cleaning up corrupt administrations in other countries.

Speakers

Henry Marsh is a brain surgeon, and an award-winning author, whose 2014 memoir Do No Harm was a bestseller. His work in Ukraine was the subject of a BBC documentary The English Surgeon in 2007.

Tania Korotchenko is in charge of Crown Agents’ procurement work in Ukraine, and has worked with the health ministry to significantly reduce the prices it pays for key medications.

Fergus Drake is Chief Executive at Crown Agents, a not-for-profit international development company. He has over two decades of experience delivering humanitarian and development programmes around the world. Previously, Fergus was Executive Director of Global Programmes at Save the Children, has experience at HM Treasury in the UK and embedded in the Government of Rwanda with Tony Blair’s Africa Governance Initiative.

  Watch the video stream of Kleptoscope 11

When Barack Obama was elected, the world cheered. Not only was he the first African-American President, he inspired hope and trust – everywhere. His promises – to end the war in Iraq, close Guantanamo, fight climate change, reform American healthcare – seemed to mark a new era of civility and hope. What happened instead was the worst economic collapse in living memory, a Republican opposition that refused any sort of cooperation, and the rise of a populist anti-government Tea Party.

In this landmark series by Norma Percy, Brian Lapping and Paul Mitchell, four one-hour programmes look at how he brought America out of the Great Recession; how his triumphant reform of America’s healthcare system was followed by defeat at the polls at the hands of the Tea Party; the failure to close Guantanamo, the Arab Spring and the inside story of the secret nuclear negotiations with Iran; the struggle for gun control and his response to the racial unrest of Ferguson.

With unprecedented access and contribution from a number of key players within the administration, Inside Obama’s White House captures key moments when policy was made.

Jonathan Freedland is a weekly columnist and writer for the Guardian. A former Washington correspondent who has covered every US presidential election since 1992, he is also a regular contributor to the New York Review of Books and presents BBC Radio 4’s contemporary history series, The Long View. In 2014 he was awarded the Orwell special prize for journalism. He has also published eight books including six bestselling thrillers, the latest being The 3rd Woman. He tweets @freedland.

Producer/Director: Paul Mitchell
Executive Producer: Brian Lapping
Series Producer: Norma Percy
Country: United Kingdom/USA
Runtime: 60′

 
On Monday 30 March the Frontline Club hosted a screening of A Quiet Inquisition, followed by an insightful discussion with director Alessandra Zeka. Recently previewed at the London edition of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival, A Quiet Inquisition has been described by the Huffington Post as a film that “every human rights advocate should see.”

A Quiet Inquisition follows the daily life of OBGYN Doctor Carla Cerrato, as she works at a public hospital in Nicaragua and battles the restrictions of a new law which forbids the termination of any pregnancy, even when a woman’s life is at stake. As pregnant women and young girls turn to the hospital for help, Carla and her colleagues are torn between fears of prosecution and their moral duty as doctors to save lives. Illuminating the deadly implications of this law through human stories, the film reveals the reality of an absolute abortion ban against the backdrop of Nicaragua’s complex political, religious and historical identity.

The documentary was inspired by an article in the New York Times that examined the restrictions of El Salvador’s anti abortion laws. “We actually started the film in El Salvador, but when we arrived there people did not want to talk about the issue,” said Zeka.

Along with co-director Holen Sabrina Kahn, Zeka then turned to Nicaragua, where the change in law had just gone into effect and people were more willing to speak. It was there that they met A Quiet Inquisition’s main protagonist, Dr Carla Cerrato, and the story began to take hold.

“Over the period of time, Carla opened up a lot and it was like following the dots for us,” Zeta said.

Really eye opening night @frontlineclub watching The Quiet Inquisition http://t.co/jdix2KdmUZ watch if you can

— Gina (@CuriousGe) March 30, 2015

Zeka discussed her intent to show the “universe of the doctor,” placing the issue of anti-abortion laws in a broader political and socio-economic context. Poverty, lack of education, and teenage pregnancies are prevalent in Nicaragua, an environment that reinforces the struggles faced by Carla in her daily work.

Zeka spoke of how she wanted to underline these issues from the beginning of the film, particularly by focusing on Dr. Cerato’s work with young girls.

“It was pretty disturbing for me,” she said. “That was one of the hardest things for me to deal with whilst making this film: 12-, 13-year-old girls walking out the hospital with 25 year old men. We met 45 year old guys with 13 year old girls.”

Asked by an audience member if she thinks Carla will get in trouble with the authorities for being so frank in her criticism of the new law and her willingness to break it, Zeka said: ‘We’re hoping and praying that she wont… I spent a lot of time with her and sometimes she’s very excited and gung ho about it and sometimes she’s a little bit afraid.”

The film has so far received an overwhelmingly positive response, and the hope is that Dr. Cerato’s story will continue to have a wider impact.

“We would like things to be different, we would like people to have a conversation about it,” said Zeka.

“We will also show the film to medical students, as there are many who don’t know how to make procedures for medical abortions. Even if we can achieve that, to have more students in Nicaragua to be trained for these cases, we have already achieved something.”

Click here to find out more information about A Quiet Inquisition and upcoming screenings.

It was standing room only as an energetic audience gathered for the Frontline Club’s monthly showpiece First Wednesday. Chaired by the BBC’s ever exuberant Paddy O’Connell, a panel of political experts and commentators tackled the state of play as the US gears up for the Presidential election on 6 November.

Following Mitt Romney’s controversial response to the attacks on the US missions in Egypt and Libya, proceedings opened with an inspection of the candidates’ foreign policy credentials. The speakers discussed his British blunder when he suggested London was unprepared for the 2012 Olympics and his strong rhetoric over Russia. Referring to the latest Romneyshambles, Channel 4 News’ Felicity Spector argued that foreign policy is one of the incumbent’s strengths:

“This could be just the kind of incident that changes people’s minds. … One of the criticisms that Obama brought forward at his convention speech is that Mitt Romney’s very inexperienced at foreign policy. Obama’s had those four years in the White House, taking those 3 am calls making difficult decisions. He now feels that he’s allowed to make that kind of criticism.”

Alex Spillius of the Daily Telegraph suggested that foreign policy could prove decisive come November:

“It was meant to be an economy election but because the race is so tight small factors could make a key difference and Romney’s messing up foreign policy. I don’t think he’s got the measure of how to deliver his policy yet. Obama killed Osama and that’s a huge score.”

The panel agreed that the state of the American economy is of utmost importance for the majority of American voters. Stacy Hilliard, former vice chairman of Republicans Abroad UK stated that the Obama camp is attempting to avoid discussion of economic policy.

“I saw the Democratic convention and it sounded like a Baptist revival. They were talking about issues that people don’t talk about when they go to the polls. The fact that they don’t talk about the economy suggests that they’re afraid to. Every person who spoke talked about abortion.”

Chair of Democrats Abroad UK Robert Carolina responded with a staunch defence of Obama’s economic legacy.

“The United States’ auto-industry was saved by government intervention. That was a tremendously good investment that helped to save the economy and save Detroit, Chrysler and General Motors. Let’s not forget that half of the entire debt is attributable to over spending by George W. Bush.”

Yet this message has proved difficult to sell to the electorate in the past and the panel agreed that this is the main worry for the President.

As the evening progressed, an engaged audience opened debate on specific battles that will be fought over the next 8 weeks, including immigration, socio-cultural issues including gay marriage, rape, race and religion. However the panel came full circle and agreed that it will most likely be economic policy that will secure the next President his place in the Oval Office. 

Watch the full debate here:

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