On Friday 27 March, the Frontline Club partnered with the London School of Economics to host a series of films for the 7th annual LSE Literary Festival. The external screening, at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, was packed out with members of the public for a night of short films exploring the foundations of identity and place. The five films took the audience on a journey to far flung corners of the earth, from rural Turkey to the Arctic Circle. While striking in their different visual styles, each shared a common thread by providing intimate snapshots of the lives of displaced individuals, traumatised and trapped in alien landscapes.
“You have nowhere to go. Nowhere to go,” whispers Habib Aydin as he captures a wild bird in a crude wooden cage on the outskirts of his village in south-east Turkey. This is one of the most symbolic scenes in Reber Dosky’s The Call, which follows the story of Habib and his determination to call his only son Ramazan back to settle in the village they fled in 1989. While Habib returned 7 years ago to remarry, his first family remained in Istanbul. “What does this village have to offer?” Ramazan asks during a short visit to see his father. Habib replies: “animals, rocks… what does it not have?” Touched with humour and a soundtrack of birdsong and bleating goats, Dosky presents a story about loss of tradition across a generational divide, where the disconnect between love of family and land is felt keenly.
Xenos, a short by Mahdi Fleifel, follows a group of impoverished Lebanese youths trapped in Greece which is in the grip of economic disaster. Their hopeless existence unfolds in a telephone conversation, played over shots of streets lined with drug addicts cowering in shuttered shop porches. The camera is grainy and uncomfortably intrusive, reflecting the desperate measures they take for money to buy hard drugs. “I’ve tried to mingle with the Greeks,” one youth says, “but when you do, they assume you are gay. They say ‘you want sex?’” Speaking of how they sell their bodies to strangers in a nearby park, another reflects. “This country ruins your soul.”
Tuna Kaptan and Felicitas Sonvilla offers a different perspective of the conventional refugee narrative in Two at the Border, by focusing on the plight of two smugglers stationed at the Turkish city of Edirne near Greece. Ali, from Syria, and Naser, from Palestine, form a strong bond through their shared financial hardship and longing for home. “I thought about returning to Palestine,” Naser admits in the confines of his apartment. “My parents are seriously ill. They cry on the phone for me to come home. I haven’t been able to send a single lira back.” Stuck in their own limbo, their lives consist of traversing the distance between their apartment and the heavily patrolled borders.
In October 2013, a boat carrying 500 Eritrean refugees sunk off the coast of the Italian island Lampedusa. More than 360 people drowned. Morgan Knibbe’s Shipwreck is a testament to the horrors faced by those who resort to crossing into Europe by sea. The camera sways and lurches as hundreds of coffins are loaded onto a military ship at the harbour. Between the hysteria and silence of loss, one survivor, Abraham, whispers his story as he walks through a graveyard of shipwrecks.
In the last film of the evening, Adrift, Frederik Jan Depickere follows the story of Simu, a Ugandan who fled political persecution. He now works as a construction site cleaner 150km above the Arctic Circle. With all his family dead or missing, Simu stares out over the ghostly tundra landscape. “I used to dream of being a pop singer,” he says. “But according to my situation now, I think that dream is dead.” The camera pans over a field of snow peppered with bare black trees. “I don’t belong here. But at home they would just make me disappear.”
For more information on the LSE Literary Festival 2015, click here.
]]>On Friday 16 January, the Frontline Club was at full capacity for an evening that showcased the diverse faces of documentary filmmaking, both journalistic and poetic. The documentaries screened offered snapshots into five very different worlds, allowing the audience to glimpse the lives of remarkable individuals in addition to illuminating pressing issues, such as female genital mutilation and the rise of ISIS in Syria.
Shorts at the Frontline Club
Chappin’
“I don’t really know what came to kickstart it, it just kind of … seemed to happen,” says 17-year-old schoolboy Liam McLaughlan as he attaches a sign advocating Scottish independence to a lamppost.
“You look around an area you come from – things like that – that’s where the desire for change really starts, and then it kind of spots out.”
A resident of Glasgow’s infamous Easterhouse Estate, Liam is determined that Scottish independence is what his area desperately needs in order to tackle the ongoing political neglect of the poor and underprivileged.
Director Igor Slepov tenderly captures the pride and determination of a young man whose political campaign is passionate and deeply personal.
Central Station Sofia
The biggest railway station in the Balkans today resembles an empty shell. Built during the years of socialism, it was once a hub of activity with twenty staff members employed to provide for its commuters. Today only three remain, and its sense of abandonment echoes the current economic instability in Sofia.
“The restaurant and café were always full,” says a station worker as the camera pans across an empty cafeteria.
Fragments of the workers’ lives are shown, interspersed with shots of a near-deserted station hall. A lady selling lottery tickets says, “Everyone is hoping to win a million so they can go to a warm country and never come back here.”
Despite the bleak subject matter, Central Station Sofia, directed by Alberto Iordanov, is not free from humour. The film includes a shot of a solemn-faced man standing behind a counter who announces, “My name is Georgi Zarev and I run the station gun shop (…) I love cars and guns like every boy”.
Syria’s Second Front
In this short documentary, reporter Muhammed Ali crosses into Syria in order to document a violent new phase of the civil war. Ali travels with fighters from the Free Syrian Army, whom he films at their base as they prepare to battle jihadist militant group ISIS.
“It’s very important for me to tell you what’s happening on the ground; no Western media can get in,” he says, conscious of the significant risk he is undertaking by entering the country as a journalist.
Ali persuades rebels to sneak him into the northwestern town of al-Atareb, which is under the control of the so-called Islamic State. He returns with footage of an ISIS rally in the town square, at which fighters are pledging their allegiance to global Jihad. The film shows ISIS members joining hands and repeating, “I pay homage to ISIS, to listen and obey, God is a witness to what we are saying. Praise God, God is the greatest, praise God.”
Godka Cirka (A Hole in the Sky)
“My mother was a shepherdess too. She died when I was born. My auntie Sahra took care of me.” These are the words of young narrator Alifa describing life in the village of Beerato, Somaliland. She exposes her own vulnerability as she discusses her pending genital mutilation, “I will lie until the rainy season with my legs tied until I can walk again.”
Alex Lora’s powerful film looks at three generations of shepherdesses – Alifa, her aunt Sahra and grandmother Faadumo – as they deal with the daily struggles of poverty and water shortage.
The Orchard Keepers
As Cairo rocks with revolution, two Bedoiun tender their orchards in the brown Sinnai desert. The first, Amariya, has created a magnificent patch of green amidst the rugged bareness of the landscape. “Look how beautiful my garden is today”, she says, her eyes beaming above a black niqab. “Everybody thinks I’m crazy living in the mountains, but I am not crazy. I said to myself that I want to make a garden and to be free.”
The film, directed by Bryony Dunne, highlights the fact that during a time of political volatility in Egypt, and despite the difficulty in maintaining them, the gardens offer freedom and timeless stability.
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 total runtime of the evening is 93 minutes.
January 2015 selection:
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Chappin’
Liam McLaughlan is a 17-year-old schoolboy from Glasgow’s Easterhouse Estate. A passionate voice within the Scottish Radical Independence Campaign, he engaged with activists and seasoned politicians to push for support to his neglected community. Liam’s political campaigning is deeply personal, and Igor Slepov’s portrayal of a young man’s determination to aid his Glasgow neighbourhood offers a reflection on the individual stories that comprised Scotland’s independence debate.
Directed by Igor Slepov | Duration: 10′ | Year: 2014
http://www.scottishdocinstitute.com/tag/igor-slepov/ -
Central Station Sofia
Alberto Iordanov introduces us to the surreal world of Central Station Sofia. It is a mosaic film that combines fragments from the lives of those who are a part of the biggest railway station in the Balkans. Central Station Sofia was built during the peak of socialism and it has been the symbol of the opening of Bulgaria to the world, yet its abandoned air reflects the current economic instability in the country.
Directed by Alberto Iordanov | Duration: 14′ | Year: 2013
http://cargocollective.com/albertoiordanov -
Syria’s Second Front
From PBS and Clover Films: FRONTLINE makes a dangerous trip to the battlefields of Syria, gaining exclusive access to rebel forces as they try to unify against extremist Islamic factions that have thwarted the fight against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. With international peace efforts foundering and Western news organisations unable to safely report inside the country, journalist Muhammad Ali crosses into Syria to travel with moderate rebel commanders and fighters as they launch what they are calling “The Second Revolution,” this time against jihadis from the Al Qaeda-linked group known as ISIS.
Directed by Muhammad Ali | Duration: 22′ | Year: 2014
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/syrias-second-front/ -
Godka Cirka (A Hole in the Sky)
A Hole in the Sky that takes place in Beerato, a wind-swept village in Somaliland, an unrecognised self-declared de facto sovereign state, recognized as an autonomous region of Somalia. Alex Lora’s film focuses on three generations of female shepherdesses; the struggles of their daily lives as they deal with analphabetism, shortage of water, and their attempt to end to the ancient practice of Female Genital Cutting.
Directed by Alex Lora | Duration: 10′ | Year: 2012
http://www.aholeinthesky.org/ -
The Orchard Keepers
Against the backdrop of political upheaval, islands of green float in the rugged Sinai desert; two Bedouin embark on a daily journey to keep their orchards alive. During a time of volatility, filmmaker Bryony Dunne discovers the orchards and the timeless stability they offer.
Directed by Bryony Dunne | Duration: 28′ | Year: 2014
www.theorchardkeepers.com
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 one particular remarkable event or person.
The total running time of the evening is 85 minutes.
Sonntag 3
Sonntag 3 is a whimsy flashback of a blind date with chancellor Angela Merkel. This third episode of a series about Sunday outings explores the inner world of one of the most powerful women in politics today, and goes beyond all the official goings-on. Directed by Jochen Kuhn | Duration: 14′ | Year: 2012
Rebirth
In March 2011, photographer Guy Martin arrived in Libya on the trail of uprisings that were sweeping across the Middle East. One month later he lay in a hospital bed in Misrata fighting for his life after a rocket propelled grenade landed near his group, killing photographers Tim Hetherington and Chris Hondros and at least seven rebel soldiers. Directed by Emile Dinneen | Duration: 19′ | Year: 2014
The Call
Habib and his family were forced to flee their native village in southeast Turkey 25 years ago and moved to Istanbul. Habib returned to his village seven years ago, while his first family didn’t. He remarried and had four more children but misses his only son Ramazan. When Ramazan decides to visit the village for the first time since he was five, Habib will try anything to make his stay permanent. Directed by Reber Dosky | Duration: 25′ | Year: 2014
The Supreme
Perched atop a mountain, in a park of sacred miniatures, stands the world’s largest statue of Pope John Paul II. Constructed entirely of Styrofoam and fiberglass, the statue stands an impressive 14 metres high and overlooks a rural Polish town. Filled with stunning visuals and surreal scenes, The Supreme is a humorous portrait of the irony and spectacle of religion. Directed by Katarzyna Gondek | Duration: 20′ | Year: 2013
Nae Pasaran
In a small Scottish town in 1974, factory workers refused to carry out repairs on warplane engines in an act of solidarity against the violent military coup in Chile. Four years pass then the engines mysteriously disappear in the middle of the night. Forty years later the factory workers re-unite and look back on what was gained and what was lost. Directed by Felipe Bustos Sierra | Duration: 14′ | Year: 2013
Ramallah Stories – Check-Point Boy
In order to supplement their families’ income, young Palestinian boys spend most of their childhood selling bric-a-brac at military check points. Confronted by the daily repression of the Israeli army, they dream of a future. Directed by Shireen Abu Hamda | Duration: 4′ | Year: 2013 ]]>
Shorts at the Frontline Club http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com/shorts-may-2014/http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com/shorts-may-2014/#respond Thu, 13 Mar 2014 12:37:17 +0000 http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com/?p=40785 The selection for the upcoming edition:
VHS vs Communism. In communist Romania in the 1980s, a young translator became an unlikely voice of freedom. She illicitly dubbed thousands of foreign films, distributed on VHS tapes, turning B-movie stars into heroes. Directed by Ilinca Calugareanu | Duration: 7′ | Year: 2014
Beach Boy follows Juma, who dreams of leaving his Kenyan slum for a better life abroad. His pregnant girlfriend has moved overseas for work, leaving him to find his own way. Juma sets his sights on a middle-aged tourist, who shows him a glimpse of the high life in exchange for his “companionship”. They would like a different kind of life, could their romance make the fantasy become real? Directed by Emil Langballe | Duration: 27′ | Year: 2013
Cathedrals is a portrait of the city of Ordos, built for approximately 2 million people in the Chinese province of Inner Mongolia. Today it is mostly abandoned, having fallen prey to speculators who earn a fortune on ever rising property prices. It is a construction of babylonian proportions which, like no other place, signifies an unbreakable faith in money. Directed by Konrad Kästner | Duration: 15′ | Year: 2013
Hidden Wounds is a song by Tom Barman about Jimmie Johnson, a British war veteran who is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The video for this song is also a short documentary, portraying veterans from various Western countries: old and young, wounded, mutilated or physically fit, but all marked by the same hidden wounds. Directed by Tomas Kaan | Duration: 8′ | Year: 2013
Insein Rhythm is a humorously edited portrait of the sights, sounds and rhythms of Yangon’s Insein railway station. What happens at the old station just before a train arrives may seem like a haphazard collection of random moments, but can also be a system of interlocking gestures and sounds. Directed by Soe Moe Aung | Duration: 11′ | Year: 2013
Amdo After Harvest shows the annual celebrations held after harvesting in the Tibetan Amdo Kingdom, Qinghai province of China. For centuries this region was known for its Thangka paintings and tantric practices. Times have changed, and the Amdo community is now undergoing a massive social and cultural shift. Directed by Adam Ruszkowski | Duration: 13′ | Year: 2013
]]>Screening: Shorts at the Frontline Club http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com/shorts-march-2014/http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com/shorts-march-2014/#respond Tue, 11 Feb 2014 13:34:02 +0000 http://www.beta.frontlineclub.com/?p=39672 The total running time of the evening will be 85 minutes.
Things I Heard on Wednesdays (Egypt)
Illustrated by family pictures and the personal stories of his relatives, filmmaker Abu Bakr Shawky takes us on a lively journey through modern Egyptian history. This photographic documentary shows the strong bond tying human lives with the history of the nation.
Director: Abu Bakr Shawky | Duration: 9′ | Year:2012
Kiev (UA) President Yanukovych’s decision to pull out of a treaty with the EU in late November sparked anti-government protests in Kiev, Ukraine. Filmmakers Oleksandr Techynskyi and Aleksey Solodunov chronicled the increasingly tense protests on Independence Square. This is a raw account of the events on 20 and 21 February 2014. Directors: Oleksandr Techynskyi & Aleksey Solodunov | Duration: 5′ | Year: 2014
Aus Dem Auge (Germany)
An enormous concrete building constructed during the Nazi era reminds us of the architectural absurdity of national-socialism. This abandoned cathedral got lost and forgotten somewhere in a loophole of history. This cinematic and aesthetic film becomes a statement of critical analysis.
Director: Matthias Zuder | Duration: 11′ | Year: 2013
30% (Women and Politics in Sierra Leone) (UK)
This oil-painted animation brings to life the stories of three powerful women in postconflict Sierra Leone. Anna Cady reveals the violence and corruption these women face as they fight for fairer representation in governing their country.
Director: Anna Cady | Duration: 11’| Year: 2013
Lost on the Roof of the World (US)
The Wakhan Corridor in eastern Afghanistan is tucked between the Hindu Kush mountain range, Pakistan, Tajikistan, and China. This territory is home to the Wakhi and Kirghiz people who lead lives virtually unchanged for centuries, battling an extremely rugged environment without roads or amenities. Director: Frédéric Lagrange | Duration: 20′ | Year: 2013
Hear This! (NL) Ten-year-old Tristan loves football. His biggest wish is for his father to be his team’s coach. The club says his father would never be a good coach because he is deaf. Tristan thinks that’s nonsense. His father is a brilliant football player; he even plays for the Dutch national team for the deaf. Director: Soulaima El Khaldi | Duration: 15′ | Year: 2013
Sayadeen (UK) Forced to fish within a three mile sea frontier, the fishermen of Gaza are struggling to survive. While supplies are dwindling, they risk everything to feed their families.
Director: Murat Gökmen | Duration: 13′ | Year: 2013
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