The screening will be followed by a Q&A with Poulsen, moderated by Katie Arnold, a freelance journalist who has reported on Myanmar’s political and social development.

Speakers: 

Karen Stokkendal Poulsen is a writer and director with a background in foreign affairs and political science. Her 2014 documentary “The Agreement” was nominated for Best Nordic Documentary at the Göteborg Film Festival, Best Medium-Length Documentary at the Krakow Film Festival, and the F:ACT Award at the Copenhagen International Documentary Festival. She is currently working on developing a fictional television series based on the film. “On the Inside of a Military Dictatorship” premiered at the 2019 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in April 2019.

Katie Arnold is a freelance journalist previously based in Yangon, Myanmar where she covered the country’s political and social development. Her main area of specialism is the Rohingya crisis – having produced videos, articles and photography for Al Jazeera English, CNN and the BBC among others. She has also provided live TV commentary to BBC Radio 5, TRT World and France 24.

Hosted in the Frontline Club Forum room – an iconic hub for international affairs and independent journalism in London – the evening will include a panel discussion around the book by some of its contributors and other experts followed by an iftar meal to meet the panelists.

Letters from Baghdad is the story of a true original — Gertrude Bell — sometimes called the “female Lawrence of Arabia”. Voiced and executive produced by Academy award winning actor Tilda Swinton, the film tells the dramatic story of this British spy, explorer and political powerhouse. Bell traveled widely in Arabia before being recruited by British military intelligence during WWI to help draw the borders of Iraq.

Using stunning, never-seen-before footage of the region, Letters from Baghdad chronicles her extraordinary journey into both the uncharted Arabian desert and the inner sanctum of British colonial power. What makes the film stand apart is that the story is told entirely in the words of Gertrude Bell and her contemporaries, excerpted from their intimate letters, private diaries and official documents. This unforgettable documentary takes unique look at both a remarkable woman and the tangled history of Iraq, while transporting us into a past that is eerily current.

Directed by: Sabine Krayenbühl and Zeva Oelbaum
Co-produced by: Mia Bays, Christian Popp & Fabrice Esteve
Executive Produced by: Tilda Swinton

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′

Last Days in Vietnam chronicles the chaotic final days of the Vietnam War as the North Vietnamese Army closed in on Saigon. In April of 1975, the North Vietnamese Army was advancing on Saigon as the South Vietnamese resistance was crumbling. Approximately 5,000 Americans remained, with roughly 24 hours to get out. Their South Vietnamese allies, co-workers, and friends faced certain imprisonment and possible death if they remained behind, yet there was no official evacuation plan in place.

With the clock ticking and the city under fire, American officers on the ground faced a moral dilemma: follow official policy and evacuate U.S. citizens and their dependents only, or ignore orders and save the men, women, and children they had come to value and love during their years in Vietnam.

Over the last days in Vietnam, with the clock ticking and the city under fire, 135,000 South Vietnamese managed to escape with help from a number of Americans who took matters into their own hands, engaging in unsanctioned and often makeshift operations in a desperate effort to save as many people as possible. Through remarkable archive footage and candid present day interviews, director Rory Kennedy reconstructs the evacuation efforts with sensitivity and concern for accurate historical record.

Last Days in Vietnam is an Academy Award Nominee for Best Documentary Feature and will premiere on PBS America at 8pm on Sunday 1 November (Sky 534 & Virgin Media 276).

Director/Producer: Rory Kennedy
Producer: Kevin McAlester
Executive Producer: Mark Samels
Year: 2015
Runtime: 60′

In this multi-award winning companion piece to The Act of Killing, filmed before its release, Joshua Oppenheimer further explores the terrible legacy of the Indonesian genocide fifty years ago, this time through the lens of one family.

Adi was born in 1968, two years after his brother Ramli was slaughtered in front of many eyewitnesses. Now an optometrist, Adi lives with his elderly parents and his children. Not only does he live under the ongoing rule of his brother’s killers, but he must listen to his children regurgitate the propaganda that instigated the killing, and is still being perpetuated in schools.

Adi decides to confront some of the perpetrators of the genocide, who are surprised when his questions are more probing than Oppenheimer‘s. His breaking of the silence leads to some electrifying scenes, in a film where the beauty of the Indonesian landscape belies the bone-chilling horrors carried out there in the name of democracy.

Radically different to Oppenheimer’s previous film, The Look of Silence is equally shocking and keenly observed. Filmed in his characteristic visual style, the film bears witness to the collapse of fifty years of silence.

“One of the greatest and most powerful documentaries ever made. A profound comment on the human condition.” – Errol Morris

“Profound, visionary, stunning.” – Werner Herzog

Director: Joshua Oppenheimer
Producer: Signe Byrge Sørensen
Year: 2014
Runtime: 103′
Distributor: Dogwoof UK
www.thelookofsilence.co.uk

Explore, through her granddaughter’s eyes, the life story of Dorothea Lange, the photographer who captured the iconic image “Migrant Mother.” Never-seen-before photos, film footage, interviews, family memories, and journals reveal the artist who challenged America to know itself.

Lange’s enduring images document five turbulent decades of American history, including the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, World War II Japanese American Internment camps, and early environmentalism. Yet few know the story, struggles, and profound body of work of the woman behind the camera. Award winning cinematographer Dyanna Taylor, Lange’s granddaughter, directs and narrates this intimate documentary as it explores Lange’s life and probes her uncompromising vision.

Directed by: Dyanna Taylor
Country: United States
Year: 2015
Runtime: 60′

PBS America will be broadcasting DOROTHEA LANGE: GRAB A HUNK OF LIGHTNING here in the UK at 6.40pm on Friday 24 July on Sky 534 & Virgin Media 243

Within the space of three short months in 1994, a million people were murdered in the genocide in Rwanda. Populated by two irreconcilable tribes — the Tutsis and the majority Hutus — the country had long been steeped in a divisive antagonism.

Hutu women as well as men took up arms, violently killing their neighbours and taking commanding roles within armed groups. In Shades of True eight female perpetrators who have been imprisoned for their involvement in the genocide recount their experiences with clarity and self-scrutiny.

Immaculée admits to being an “animal” and undeserving of her traumatised son Jérôme’s forgiveness. He laments, “What is dirty will never regain its purity.” Filmmakers Violaine Baraduc and Alexandre Westphal guide us through some of the darkest atrocities of war by way of the women’s memories — and by the impossible love between a mother and her son.

Directed by Alexandre Westphal and Violaine Baraduc
Country: France
Runtime: 88′

On Tuesday 2 June, acclaimed writer and historian William Dalrymple joined an audience at the Frontline Club for a fascinating talk on his latest book, Return of a King – The Battle for Afghanistan, in partnership with the London Press Club. The work is the third volume in a series examining the history of Great Britain in South Asia during the 19th century.

“Eastern Iran and the west of Afghanistan, and a war is about to break out,” Dalrymple began by way of setting the scene. “The new Shah of Iran has announced that he is going to retake the disputed border city of Herat.”

Dalrymple then launched into an account of a young British horseman, sent to Afghanistan in order to investigate the latest developments in the ongoing war. The man strayed off course, where he encountered an unexpected scene.

“What he sees next changes the history of Iran, Afghanistan, India and Central Asia for the next hundred years. Because what he sees coming towards him is not the Afghans, not the Persians, not the drug runners. It’s not the foot pads, or the Dacoits … it is a fully uniformed regiment of Russian imperial Cossack cavalry.”

The horseman managed to get word back to Britain that the Russians were invading Afghanistan; mobilising the British to do the same. In fact, Russian troops were visiting the country on an unofficial diplomatic mission.

Dalrymple said jokingly, “It couldn’t happen today. Imagine an intelligence cock-up creating a war and a complete misreading of the situation. Luckily we have the checks and balances in place to make sure that this could not possibly happen in the 21st century.”

Inspired talk on British Afghan war (first one) from the great @DalrympleWill at @frontlineclub @londonpressclub pic.twitter.com/ng6SmbzPP0

— Ed Vere (@ed_vere) June 3, 2015

Dalrymple continued to draw parallels between the colossal mistakes committed during the 1838 British invasion of Afghanistan, and those of the recent war beginning in 2001. He showed images of the key characters in the story, bringing them to life and pointing out their modern day counterparts. Much to the amusement of the audience, Dalrymple compared the over-sexed Scottish diplomat and explorer Alexander Burnes to Conservative MP Rory Stewart.

He wittily described the error that lead to Burnes’ death in Kabul. “Winter on its way, the first snow falling – this is the moment that old Alexander Burnes decides to seduce the girlfriend of Shah Shuja’s leading warlord in Kabul. This is not a good idea.”

An audience member asked how the British managed to fail so catastrophically in Afghanistan. The author responded: “Ultimately the reason this failed was economics. The company [East India Company] was not making a profit out of it, so they didn’t put enough resources in. There were only four and a half thousand troops on that retreat.”

Another audience member asked Dalrymple to comment on whether the British have finally learnt their lesson when it comes to foreign invasions, particularly with regard to Afghanistan.

Dalrymple responded: “I think, in a sense, it’s really too late to learn our lesson. This chapter is over. Next up, if it isn’t China, it’s Pakistan and India fighting over Afghanistan.”

Return of a King is available to purchase here.

On Friday 15 May, the Frontline Club hosted the UK premiere of This Is My Land, followed by an insightful discussion with director Tamara Erde. Screened on the 67th anniversary of Israeli Independence and Nakba Day, the film poses an important and highly relevant question: how does teaching of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict affect younger generations in the contested region?

This Is My Land follows several history teachers and students in six schools over an academic year. It provides a nuanced perspective of how educational institutions across Israel and the West Bank grapple with national identity, curriculum censorship and a relentless fear of the ‘other’. Observational in style, the film reveals gaping discrepancies between concepts of freedom and historical truth, and a sense of how trauma and conflict are transmitted onto the next generation through the pages of a textbook.

At the beginning of the film, Erde explains how, as an Israeli student, she was never taught to consider Palestinian history. It was not until she joined the army that she gained greater awareness of the other side of the conflict. During her discussion at the Frontline Club, she commented on her motivations for making the film.

“For me, something that is really important and lacking in education, is the other side’s vision, narrative and history. The first step is just to realise that there is another side and story, that is today being completely ignored. It’s [about] opening up to tolerance and understanding that you are not alone in the world… to see people on the other side with their pain from the past, all this complexity.”

Thought provoking evening @frontlineclub: This is my land | Tamara Erde http://t.co/VHnxaohRFM

— Stephanie Biden (@StephanieBiden) May 15, 2015

Asked by an audience member how she had approached each school, Erde said:
“You have to get approval from the Ministry of Education for each teacher. From the Israeli side, all the teachers who were centre-left were not authorised.”

She added that while there were numerous schools from which she was denied access, the teachers she filmed were intriguing, both in their characters and the way they approached teaching.

“What I was looking for was teachers who on the one hand represent the national curriculum, but on the other hand do try to challenge themselves or ask questions within what they can do.”

Despite the complex personalities of the teachers, several audience members noted how bleak the film seemed in terms of optimism, and asked whether Erde felt any sense of hope that the two sides could find a solution.

She responded: “While editing, there were times when I thought I’d like it to have a happy ending. But at the same time, I wanted to stay loyal to what I felt and what I saw during this process… From what we’ve seen over the long years, the solution doesn’t come from politics. We need to try and bring it from other places, and I think education could have been one of the major places. But today, it’s just following politics completely.”

One audience member asked whether the film had been screened in Israel or Palestine and, given the contentious topic, the reactions it received.

Erde said: “We did some private screenings in the cinemas on the Israeli side and Ramallah… There were many good responses from teachers who saw the film and said it raised many important questions for them. On the Israeli side we did some screenings in April. There were first reactions saying, it’s okay for us to see it inside Israel but don’t show it outside so you don’t reveal anything about the problems here.”

She added that her ultimate aim would be to screen the film in schools.

“What I would have loved to do is to bring it to schools, to teachers and to kids from both sides to see. I think it will be a long process. We managed to do it in the schools that we filmed, and in some private teachers organisations. We tried through the Ministry [of Education], but I’m not surprised it didn’t work. On the Palestinian side, we are trying now and I hope it will work in some way.”

Visit the This Is My Land website for more information on the film and upcoming screenings.