All events in the Festival are free to attend, but booking is required. E-tickets will be available to book after 10am on Tuesday 31 January via the LSE online store: http://eshop.lse.ac.uk/. For any queries see LSE Events at events@lse.ac.uk 0207 955 6043

The lineup:

MISS ME: THE ARTFUL VANDAL
Director: Mohammed Pullinger
2015 / 4 min / United States

From subliminal to subversive: At the height of a successful career at one of the world’s top advertising agencies, renowned Montreal-based “Miss Me” quit her job and took to the streets to become an underground street artist. Her goal? Self-liberation, authenticity, and to be a loud, counter-voice to the objectification of women in mainstream advertising.

WE ALL WE GOT
Director: Carlos Javier Ortiz
2015 / 4 min / United States

Carlos Javier Ortiz has been documenting the consequences of gun violence in Chicago and Philadelphia for over 8 years. His work is especially focused on the impact such violence has on shaping the lives of youth in these communities. We All We Got captures the poetic language of the streets: the ghetto birds flying over the city; music popping out of cars; people talking on the street corners as preachers holler for the violence to stop after another young person was senselessly gunned down on the streets of Chicago.

LA LAGUNA
Director: Aaron Schock
2016 / 40 min / Mexico

Set within the rainforests of southern Mexico, La Laguna tells the story of a Mayan boy’s remarkable journey from childhood to adolescence. While Yu’uk and his younger brother José enjoy a childhood of uncommon freedom in the jungle, Yu’uk’s family’s problems begin to mount and leaving his village – and his beloved little brother – may be his family’s only hope.

EPICLY PALESTINE’D
Director: Theo Krish and Philip Joa
2016 / 26 min / United Kingdom

A small group of Palestinian teenagers gain the attention of the sporting world when they create a skateboarding scene in the heart of the West Bank – a place where you can’t even buy a skateboard – whilst facing the challenges of living under military occupation.

POSHIDA: HIDDEN LGBT PAKISTAN
Director: Faizan Fiaz
2016 / 28 min / Pakistan, United Kingdom

Poshida takes the queer love story at the heart of Sufi Islam as its pivot, telling the hidden story of a range of queer people living in Pakistan, with particular insight into the political realities of transgender men and women. It is beautifully shot, poetic and sympathetic to the lives and struggles of the people it portrays.

The evening will include short stories capturing the essence of big issues, films showing life in other parts of the world under difficult or extraordinary circumstances, and stories focusing on remarkable individuals.

This screening will be followed by a Q&A with In the Valley of Guns and Roses director Simon Hipkins.

Full lineup to be announced soon.

FAMOUS IN AHMEDABAD
Director: Hardik Mehta
2016 / 29 min / India

Set during the kaleidoscopic backdrop of the biggest kite-flying festival in India, this stunning film witnesses the transformation of an 11-year-old Zaid from a boy next door to an aggressive and a passionate kite-runner – until he comes across a challenge that threatens to keep him away from the one thing he loves.

IN THE VALLEY OF GUNS AND ROSES
Director: Simon Hipkins
2016 / 25 min / UK

In the heart of Bulgaria’s Rose Valley, single mother Irina is desperate to give her four-year-old daughter, Stefi, a better start in life. Her main source of income comes from her dangerous work at a weapons factory where she measures and packs gunpowder into artillery shells.

THE NEW CHE OF HAVANA
Director: Alex Mallis
2016 / 7 min / USA
AlexMallis.com

A Cuban skateboarder and artist must reconcile looming changes and a nascent free-market economy with his desire to continue operating his tattoo shop – currently illegal in Havana.

SHOOTING THE TRIBE
Director: Gemma Atkinson and Fred Grace
2013 / 8 min / Colombia, UK

In 1989, the Kogi tribe of Colombia opened their doors to a BBC documentary film crew. Their intention was to send us a warning that if we continued to live our lives the way we do, the destruction of the planet was assured. 25 years later, Shooting the Tribe takes us back into the jungle of the Sierra Nevada, to understand why it is they, not us, whose way of life has changed.

BACK
Directors: Jenna Belhumeur, Elena Boffetta
2015 / 13 min / United States

BACK focuses on the hidden aspects of long-term confinement through the eyes of Otis Johnson, who was incarcerated for over 40 years. The documentary explores what re-entry means for inmates who are released in a society that has drastically changed over several decades.

This event will feature screenings of Zaina‘s short films from the series Syria’s Rebellious Women, as well as a Q&A with Zaina who is in London as one of the finalists in the Index on Censorship’s Freedom of Expression Awards 2016.

Living and working in Aleppo, Syria, Erhaim directed the film series Syria’s Rebellious Women over a period of 18 months to offer a rare insight into the challenges facing women living and working in rebel-held parts of Syria.

Revealing a side of Syria that is often absent from the news, the films tell the individual stories of a diverse group of strong, resilient women. As well as facing the constant threat of bombing, the women must battle the conservative traditions of a male-dominated society and tackle restrictions on their movements, dress and behaviour. Despite disapproval from their families, the women continue undeterred along the paths they have chosen – documenting war, delivering supplies to civilians, and providing medical services.

Zaina Erhaim currently lives and works in Aleppo, Syria. Over the last two years, she has trained over 100 citizen reporters from inside Syria, approximately a third of them women, in print and TV journalism. Erhaim is also the Syria project coordinator for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), an international organisation that support journalists in countries undergoing conflict, crisis, or transition. Many of Erhaim’s students, from all walks of life, have been published in major international news outlets. ​

Looking at Time, Brandon Lavoie

A panel of experienced filmmakers will come together to discuss their creative methods for short documentary production – focusing on cinematography, editing, and visual storytelling for capturing the essence of big stories in short format. Taking into account the development of online distribution platforms and Op-Docs, we will explore how new technologies and distribution methods are connected to creative practice.

Addressing the editorial challenges involved in short filmmaking and screening segments of stylistically varied and innovative projects, this discussion will be geared towards both filmmakers and short film enthusiasts.

Panelists:

Jenny Horwell (moderator) joined DocHouse as producer in 2012, organising weekly screenings of documentaries in London cinemas. In 2015 the organisation opened Bertha DocHouse, the documentary cinema based at the Curzon Bloomsbury. As well as her work at DocHouse, Jenny has programmed the documentary shorts for four editions of the London Short Film Festival, since 2013, selecting work from open submissions. Before all that, she spent several years working at film festivals and events, and produced promos, trailers and videos at Matter Productions.

Liam Saint-Pierre

Born in Blackburn, England, Liam’s background was in stills photography and as a documentary camera operator, where he worked with the likes of Shane Meadows at Warp Films.
With a desire to tell stories, Liam’s path naturally led to directing,where his skills as a versatile filmmaker allowed him to create beautiful and intimate imagery across a variety of mediums. His cinematic style mixed with a tender realism and subtle humour translates into different genres, with story telling always at the heart. Initially this was in documentaries, but a focus on narrative has been translated into music videos, short films and commercial work. His films have been selected to screen at numerous international film festivals, including Raindance, LSFF, Sheffield Docfest, DOC NYC and many more.

Chloe White

 Chloe is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and photographer based in London. Her short films have screened worldwide at festivals as well as on the Guardian, BBC3, London Live, and BBC Radio 4. Chloe is interested in character-led documentaries and has made films on a diverse range of topics (lobster fisherwomen, female genital mutilation, self-marriage, launderettes, an atomic bomb survivor and elder transgender women) but has a special interest in female-related subjects.
Chloe also runs a production company called Whalebone Films, specialising in films for NGOs (Save the Children, WaterAid, Oxfam) and arts organisations (National Theatre, Barbican). Through this work Chloe has travelled around the world filming in over 25 countries.

Marc Silver

Marc works worldwide as a filmmaker and director of photography. His first feature length film ‘Who is Dayani Cristal?’ premiered at the Sundance Festival 2013 where it won Cinematography Award: World Cinema Documentary and the Amnesty International Best Documentary award 2014. His second film ’3½ Minutes, Ten Bullets’ about the murder of Jordan Davis premiered at the Sundance Festival 2015 winning U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Social Impact. It was shortlisted for an Academy Award and broadcast on HBO.

Marc’s rich portfolio includes documentaries, concert visuals, art installations and branding. He has created content for the BBC, Channel 4, Universal Music, The Guardian, The New York Times, Amnesty International, UNHCR and collaborated with artists such as Gael Garcia Bernal, Nitin Sawhney, Michael Nyman, Jamie Cullum, Ben Okri, Matthew Herbert and Cirque Du Soleil.

Marc is currently working on a new film about ayahuasca, neuroscience and global drug policy. He is Creative Director of The Filmmaker Fund.

Gemma Atkinson

Gemma Atkinson is an award-winning producer and director, with ten years experience of making documentaries through her production company Fat Rat Films. Her films have been screened at major festivals internationally (AFI Silverdocs, LSFF, Doc/Fest) broadcast on BBC, C4, Al Jazeera, The Guardian, and the New York Times. She is in production on her first feature documentary What We Leave Behind, an intense character study of a grieving undertaker, scheduled for release in Autumn 2016. She directs and produces documentaries around the world for various NGO’s including Amnesty International, Oxfam and The Elders.She is a co-founder and director of the hugely successful screening and networking event Doc Heads, playing to packed screenings for over 6 years.

This is an external screening taking place at the Sheikh Zayed Theatre (New Academic Building, 54 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LJ). The event is free and open to all.

E-tickets will be available to book online after 10am on Tuesday 2 February via LSE online store. For any queries see LSE Events FAQ or contact events@lse.ac.uk.

A map of the LSE campus is available here

Full programme:

HOTEL 22
Director: Elizabeth Lo
2014 / 8 min / Germany

Each night in Silicon Valley, the Line 22 transforms from a public bus into an unofficial shelter for the homeless. This film captures one dramatic night on the Hotel 22 bus.

ENTREMUNDO (WORLDS ON EDGE)
Director: Thiago B. Mendonça
2014 / 25 min / Brazil

One day in the most unequal neighbourhood of Sao Paolo.

IF I DIE ON MARS
Director: Ed Perkins
2015 / 10 min / UK

Meet the three aspiring astronauts willing to leave behind everything—and everyone—to travel to Mars…and never return. Over 200,0000 people from around the globe are competing for four seats on a MarsOne spaceship and the chance to be the first humans to colonise Mars. In If I Die on Mars, director Ed Perkins asks three finalists about their ambitions, their fears, and their reasons for leaving earth forever.

PERFECTION IS FOREVER
Director: Mara Trifu
2015 / 18 mins / UK

Human beings always aspire to become something more, doing their best to hold back time in pursuit of eternal love, youth and beauty. In Hollywood, two lost souls seek to become heroes under the shade of a lonely palm tree.

LUCHADORA
Director: River Finlay
2015/ 12 mins/ United States

‘Luna Mágica’ is a professional Lucha Libre Wrestling star who dreams of becoming World Wrestling Champion while struggling to make ends meet as a single mom in Mexico City and regain custody of her son, who was taken by her estranged husband who claims she is unfit to be a mother because of her profession as a luchadora.

The Frontline Club is delighted to partner with Cinema for Peace to bring you a night of short films illuminating the experiences of refugees and displaced persons.

Cinema for Peace is a non-profit organisation based in Berlin that aims to raise awareness for the social relevance of films, and to make active use of the influence of film on the perception and resolution of social, political and humanitarian challenges. Since 2002, the group has been inviting filmmakers, humanitarian and human rights activists, and public figures to its annual awards ceremony in Berlin to honour a selection of cinematic works on humanitarian and environmental issues.

The programme will comprise international short documentaries, narrating the personal experiences and journeys of refugees, asylum seekers and stateless and internally displaced persons from several areas across the world and representing multiple environmental and humanitarian issues.

This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Sharron Ward.

The lineup:

MY ALEPPO
Director: Melissa Langer
2015 / 18 min / USA
http://melissalanger.com/

The young Abdullah family fled the Syrian civil war and settled in Pretoria, South Africa. There, in their little one-room apartment, the Internet is all that connects them with Aleppo.

THEN I CAME BY BOAT
Director: Marleena Forward
2014 / 11 min / Australia
https://marleenaforward.wordpress.com/

Tri and his family escaped by boat from Vietnam to Australia. Now he has found a way to say thank you to Australia.

A LIFE ON HOLD
Director: Marc Silver & Nick Francis
2013 / 6 min / UK
http://www.marcsilver.net/projects/a-life-on-hold.php

When the 2011 war broke out in Libya, thousands of refugees from countries such as Somalia, Sudan, and Eritrea were forced to flee for their lives. They are now waiting in refugee camps along the Tunisian and Egyptian borders – unable to return home due to war or persecution, unable to return to Libya due to ongoing violence and discrimination.

RESIDENT ALIEN
Director: Naiara Eizaguirre-Paulos
2015 / 17 min / USA/Spain
http://www.naiaraeizaguirre.com/

15-year-old Carlos saw his best friend shot dead in front of him in Honduras and escaped gang violence by fleeing to his grandmother in the U.S., but his undocumented status leaves him vulnerable to deportation.

SYRIA: HIDDEN WAR ON WOMEN
Director/Producer: Sharron Ward
2015 / 7 min / UK / Channel 4 News
www.katalystproductions.co.uk

As the Syrian war enters its fifth year, the pressures on displaced families have caused a dramatic rise in violence against women. But domestic abuse is a taboo subject in Syrian society and the true scale of the problem is unknown. Violence against women is the hidden war on women in Syria. Filmmaker Sharron Ward gained rare access to brave Syrian refugee women in Jordan & Lebanon who spoke out in their own words about their experiences of forced child marriage, domestic violence and other gender based violence.

The evening will include short stories capturing the essence of big issues, films showing life in other parts of the world under difficult or extraordinary circumstances, and stories focusing on remarkable individuals.

The lineup:

LOOKING AT TIME
Director: Brandon Lavoie
2015 / 3 min / USA
http://www.brandonlavoiefilms.com/

Salim Shariff, a 72-year-old watch repairman originally from Bombay, India, now living & working in Jackson Heights shares his memories of living in NY for the past 30 years.

STREET ANGEL
Director: Stella Scott
2014 / 4 min / UK
http://www.stellascott.net/

Street Angel follows an angel-card reader through London as she looks for connections and people who need guidance. The film blends the hyper-real with the familiar, offering us a new perspective on our everyday realities.

A WEE NIGHT IN
Director: Stuart Edwards
2014 / 11 min / UK
http://www.scottishdocinstitute.com/tag/stuart-edwards/

Chrissy is now 95, frail but full of life. From her house in a village near Glasgow, she engages in activities that keep her active. Today, Chrissy’s 91-year-old boyfriend Bill is coming over for a nice evening that will pass by according to the slow rhythm of age. An intimate, heartwarming portrait of love in old age, full of recognisable, comedic moments.

CALLING UKRAINE
Director: Jean Counet
2015 / 12 min / Netherlands
http://www.tamfilms.com/

Through a Skype call the daily life, dreams and fears of a family in Eastern-Ukraine is revealed while the bombs are falling in the background. A grandmother in Latvia phones with her sister and child who live in the war zone of Eastern-Ukraine, months without often having water and electricity. We see the traces of the war on the face of the grandmother who, like the viewer is powerless.

THE TYPIST
Director: Kristine Stolakis
2015 / 8 min / USA

From the archives of the “queer Smithsonian,” San Francisco’s GLBT Historical Society, comes the forgotten history of a gay Korean War veteran tasked with writing the military discharges of outed gay seamen. The Typist details a conflicted clerk’s participation in discrimination and his divided allegiance to homosexuality and heroism.

MARATHON
Director: Theo Rigby, Kate McLean
2015 / 9 min / USA
http://www.immigrant-nation.com

Julio Saucé, an undocumented, Ecuadorian New Yorker, struggles to makes ends meet, all while running 80 miles a week to train for the biggest race in the world, the New York City Marathon.

GOING BACK HOME
Director: Tim O’Donnell
2015 / 17 min / USA
http://www.GoingBackHomeMovie.com

Fueled by the ghosts of a tragic past, a Lost Boy of Sudan works three jobs in a tireless effort to achieve the American Dream and return to his wife and children halfway across the world.

The evening will include short stories capturing the essence of big issues, films showing life in other parts of the world under difficult or extraordinary circumstances, and stories focusing on remarkable individuals.

The lineup:

SANTA CRUZ DEL ISLOTE
Director: Luke Lorentzen
2014 / 19 min / USA

Santa Cruz del Islote is a three-acre island about fifty miles off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia. It is a community of about 600 people making it one of the most densely populated islands in the world. This region’s lucrative fishing, which encouraged such overdevelopment, has dwindled in recent years, and the island’s subsistence has become increasingly uncertain. In following a fisherman and a ten-year-old boy, this short documentary captures the complexity of cherishing a peaceful way of life that can no longer continue with ease.

This short documentary tells the story of Marie Wilcox, the last fluent speaker of the Wukchumni language and the dictionary she created in an effort to keep her language alive.

AREKARA/THE LIFE AFTER
Director: Momoko Seto
2013 / 17 min / Japan

In February 2012, Momoko Seto travelled to a town North of Tokyo which was half destroyed by the Tsunami of March 11th, 2011, to meet the disaster victims who now live in temporary housing. She spent several days in the North, under the snow, listening to these people talk candidly about what they had lived through. From the pictures and interviews collected, she decided to make a film to communicate the singular and even surreal nature of each person’s experience. In Arekara, the bright personalities of the individuals we meet are a testament to the resilience and hopefulness of the community.

THE SOLITUDE OF MEMORY
Director: Juan Pablo González
2014 / 19 min / Mexico
http://www.juanilko.com/

A meditation on memory and grief through the portrait of a father who repeatedly remembers the last words he said to his son before his untimely death.

Along the crumbling railways of a tropical country, a radio is broadcasting a climatological alert on loop: a natural disaster is looming.

The evening will include short stories capturing the essence of big issues, films showing life in other parts of the world under difficult or extraordinary circumstances, and stories focusing on remarkable individuals.

Total runtime 82 minutes

The lineup:

VEGAS
Director: Lukasz Konopa
2013 / 24 min / UK

In the middle of the Mojave Desert, a city of neon shimmers like a mirage. But the closer you get, the more you see through the false image. The glitz, glamour and gambling are all just smoke and mirrors. At the peak of the economic crisis, three Las Vegas residents find their luck has run dry and struggle just to get by.

Cerro Rico in Potosí, Bolivia is a lawless territory, characterised by brutal violence. Here miners risk their lives every day, digging for silver and zinc in crumbling galleries. The ones that survive think they’re entitled to anything and everything, including the local women. Minerita is the story of three women —- Lucía (40), Ivone (16) and Abigail (17) — who work as night watchwomen or inside the mine, struggling to survive in an inhuman inferno.

For weeks they are away from home leading a subservient life, from early morning until late in the evening. Yet living and working on the Trans-Siberian Railway is something the train staff wouldn’t and couldn’t live without. They feel more at home on the train now than in their own homes. Sleeper’s Beat is a hymn to the train, which they regard as a living being.

A poetic journey from the darkness of early dawn into the brightness of the midday sun in the American South. Filmed entirely on the number 16 bus route in Durham, North Carolina over the course of six months, this expressively shot silent film is a celebration of light and a meditation on leaving.