One Little Piggy – PIG BUSINESS (2009) by Tracy-Louise Ward

We all know the nursery rhyme, one little piggy went to market, but I bet this time he’s wishing he had stayed at home. It is no great surprise that pig business is big business, given that it is one of the most popular meats on the shelves. The popularity of it, however, is not the problem. Ward’s beef (excuse the pun) is with the lengths gone to in order to feed the world’s insatiable appetite for pig-meat.

As part of its monthly DocSpot event, the Barbican will next month be hosting a special screening of Pig Business followed by a Q&A with Zac Goldsmith, director of The Ecologist magazine…

…A shocking exposé of how gruesome methods of factory farming are increasingly inflicting hidden long-term damage on public health and the environment.

I’ve yet to see the whole film, but from what I’ve read this isn’t one to be taken lightly. Nor is it about converting the entire planet to vegetarianism. It is plainly and simply about the reality of what it takes to get a sausage on your plate for 7p. And as such, this is by no means a film exclusively for vegetarians. Isn’t it about time we ALL know the true cost of cheap meat, not just the people who don’t eat it?

Click here to find out more about the screening (8pm, 27th May 2009 at the Barbican).

Forever and Ever – A PLACE FOR PAEDOPHILES by Louis Theroux, (to be aired on BBC TWO, April 19th at 9pm)

Courtest of The Sun

Louis Theroux is back doing what he does best and there seems to be a pattern emerging… Following Behind Bars and Law and Disorder in Philadelphia, he will be returning to our screens this Sunday interviewing imprisoned paedophiles who will never be set free.

Above all else the name Louis Theroux has become synonymous with encounters of the oddball variety, and I’m hoping that this week’s offering won’t disappoint…

Louis has gained access to Coalinga Mental Hospital in California, which houses more than 500 of the most disturbed criminals in America, convicted paedophiles… Spending time with those undergoing treatment, Louis wrestles with whether he can ever allow himself to believe men whose whole history is defined by deception and deceit.

Click here to find out more.

Snapshot – AN UNLIKELY WEAPON: THE EDDIE ADAMS STORY [2008] by Susan Morgan

1/500th of a second to get the shot…                               … a lifetime to forget it.

Image courtesy of nytimes.com

For a man who spent his life behind the camera, the tables have well and truly turned. It is Eddie Adams (June 12, 1933 – September 19, 2004), an American photojournalist who is the subject of Susan Morgan‘s latest documentary, An Unlikely Weapon: The Eddie Adams Story. Opening tonight in New York and narrated by  Keifer Sutherland, it has attracted the attention of film and photography enthusiasts alike.

During his prolific career Adams won a Pulitzer Prize for the image shown above (Nguyễn Ngọc Loan executing Nguyễn Văn Lém on February 1, 1968), and earned the admiration of a generation for his work documenting a total of 13 wars, 6 American presidents and every major film star over the last 50 years. History would be changed through his lens. 

Indeed the film has already earned itself two accolades, but it has some way to go if it is to compete with the 500 Adams earned in his lifetime!

To find out how you can see the whole film for yourself, click here.

Bermuda Triangle (INSIDE GUANTANAMO, written and directed by Jon Else, to be screened on the National Geographic Channel)

It is the legal equivalent of outer space, a place with no law.

Courtesy of tbivision.com

Say Guantanamo Bay and three images instantly come to mind, barbed wire, watchtowers and the infamous orange overalls.

In Inside Guantanamo, director Jon Else takes us beyond the exterior we know all too well and into the complete unknown. The team wasn’t allowed to interview detainees, name the staff or go anywhere near Camp 7, believed to be housing Al-Q’aeda members, for all that, however, it is neither smiley-faced government propaganda nor left-wing rabble-rousing. 

Click here to find out more.

I’m A Poet, I Just Don’t Know It… (Brave New Voices, a documentary series on HBO – Russell Simmons & Queen Latifah)

Everyone’s allowed one addiction, and mine happens to be poetry…

Think the unthinkable, think X Factor meets the life and works of Sylvia Plath, and this is the fallout – Brave New Voices - one part Def Poetry Jam and two parts documentary, presented by hip-hop entrepreneur Russell Simmons and narrated by none other than rapper Queen Latifah.

It may well follow the format of a bootcamp talent show, but Brave New Voices has definitely not just fallen off the Simon Cowell conveyor belt of ‘talent’(less) productions. I kid you not, talent is actually on the agenda, and there isn’t a pair of high-waisted trousers in sight, trust me.

Documenting the lives of young, aspiring poets from all over America as they prepare to face off in the National Youth Poetry Slam Competition, raw emotion, unwavering determination and passion all wrestle for the viewer’s attention.

This isn’t about outside, it’s about inside declares one poet as he begins his awe-inspiring stage performance. It is plain to see that the teens live, sleep, eat and breathe their poems, nothing is sugar coated, it’s just raw, hard-core straight-up emotion.

As they deliver their performances they give a piece of themselves away, sharing intimate personal details with the audience. If you’re expecting to settle down with a cup of tea and listen to a nice poem about blossom in the spring, I’m afraid to say you are in for a big surprise…

Click here to find out more.

Courtesy of thevillager.com

We Are The World: GLOBAL VOICES, The International Documentary Series on PBS World Channel, featuring THE DICTATOR HUNTER by Klaartje Quirijn, WITNESSES TO A SECRET WAR by Deborah Dickson, THE END OF THE WAITING TIME by Antonio P. Molero & Jesus Sanjurjo, RULES OF THE GAME by Thom Cooke, ESTILO HIP HOP by Loira Limbal & Vee Bravo, END OF THE RAINBOW by Robert Nugent and ARCHEOLOGY OF MEMORY by Quique Cruz & Marilyn Mulford.

The Independent Television Service and PBS World Channel are this month welcoming the eagerly-awaited return of the international documentary series, Global Voices.

The 26-episode series presents compelling internationally themed documentaries made by American and international filmmakers. Global Voices offers an international perspective through intimate and uncommon stories by and about everyday people. Meet the first-ever team of women video journalists trained in Afghanistan; a 14-year-old boy working in Bolivia’s silver mines; Dominican athletes joining the L.A. Dodgers and Arab Israeli women starting a pickle cooperative. From San Francisco to Papua New Guinea, Nigeria to Chicago, get firsthand perspectives from places near and far.

First up is Dutch filmmaker Klaartje Quirijn’s The Dictator Hunter:

Human Rights Watch lawyer Reed Brody pursues former dictators worldwide in order to bring them to justice. One of the most brutal dictators of the 20th century was Hissene Habré, who tortured the people of Chad for eight years before fleeing. Watch Brody and former political prisoner Souleymane Guangueng work the system of international diplomacy like a chess game to bring Habré to trial for authorizing the torture and murder of thousands. Along the way, Brody and Souleymane must make personal sacrifices in order to fight for their ideals.

Other films making their U.S. debut include Witnesses To a Secret War, the stories of three generations of Hmong refugees as they struggle with their personal and political legacies. Filmmaker Deborah Dickson shares their harrowing stories as this recounting of a relatively unknown piece of American history.

In Spain, filmmakers Antonio P. Molero and Jesus Sanjurjo evoke the past and its effect on the present in The End of the Waiting Time…

In 1936, General Francisco Franco led a coup d’etat against the Spanish Republic that gave rise to a brutal civil war. During his long dictatorship, hundreds of people were arrested, executed or disappeared. Recently, family members of those who vanished have begun to look for their relatives’ remains and reflect on that dark period.

Also in the line up are Thom Cooke’s Rules of the Game, Loira Limbal and Vee Bravo’s Estilo Hip Hop, Robert Nugent‘s End of the Rainbow, and Quique Cruz and Marilyn Mulford‘s Archeology of Memory.

Though the series was originally destined uniquely for American audiences, rumour has it that they will be available online soon, so keep an eye out for the documentaries on YouTube.

Click here to find out more.

  

Marmite (JAPAN: A STORY OF LOVE & HATE, 2008, by Sean McAllister)

All we want is to be human

Courtesy of CBC

What do you get when you mix a 56 year old anarchist-turned- postman with a woman half his age who relies on pills to get her to sleep? Well, I’ll tell you – you get one utterly compulsive hour of television, and a whole lot more. The latest in BBC Four‘s Hidden Japan series, Japan: A Story of Love and Hate is unlike anything I’ve ever watched before.

A hopeless relationship doomed to fail, but somehow still keeps going is juxtaposed with a side of Japan one rarely sees. Suicide, poverty and mental breakdowns make for a very serious subject matter, but at the same time there is a something of a soap opera about the extraordinary lives of Naoki and Yoshie (the main protagonists).

The gap between rich and poor in Japan is said to be more overt than ever before and with Yoshie working all hours to support her boyfriend, who happens to be the same age as her father (and , the documentary exposes a new class, known as the new poor or working poor.

Naoki is quite happy to have the cameras follow him everywhere, even whilst the pair argue, eager for the world to finally see what he calls the real Japan.

A key component in the documentary is its maker, the unstoppably inquisitive Sean Mcallister. Unlike many who stick to observing, he plays a vital role, even confessing on his website, I get as close as I can… I pull the trigger. Right in the thick of it, tossing aside quintessential British politeness he asks the most personal of questions, and even sees fit to turn up with Viagra pills as a gift for Yoshie’s father! Click here to watch the documentary on BBC iPlayer and find out why…

LIDF – The London International Documentary Festival 2009 [31 March - 2 April] featuring KEEP LOOKING (CHERCHE TOUJOURS) by Mathias Théry & Etienne Chaillo, THE DEVIL HIDES IN DOUBT by Eva Stotz, HIDDEN ART (L’ARTE NACOSTA) by Alfredo de Giuseppe, CITY OF THE ROMA (LA CITE DES ROMS) by Frédéric Castaignède, KAROSTA: LIFE AFTER THE USSR by Peter King, PALNA’S DAUGHTERS (PALNAN TYTTARET) by Kiti Luostarinen, BIG BOY (ISO POIKA) by Mia Halme, LEFT BEHIND by Fabian Daub, RED SANDS by David Procter, LIKE A MAN ON EARTH by Andrea Segre & Dagmawi Yimer, INSIDE OUT (DIRITTO ROVESCIO) by Maria Tarantino, RECIPES FOR DISASTER, (KATASTROFIN AINEKSIA) by John Webster and APOCALYPSE ON WHEELS (APOCALIPSA DUP A OFERI) by Ada Solomon.

 

Courtesy of NOKTEEZ.com

The annual pan-London festival of the best documentaries from around the world returns to the Barbican with the festival strand A Conversation in Europe.

The London International Documentary Festival starts next week at London’s Barbican with a great many documentaries, a handful of world premieres, and a few Q& A sessions thrown in for good measure…

 

Keep Looking (Cherche toujours) by Mathias Théry & Etienne Chaillo. (France 2008).

All what-s, why-s and how-s you wanted to know, but never thought of asking.

The Devil Hides in Doubt (Sollbruchstelle) by Eva Stotz. (Germany 2008).

A film about the emotional push and pull of work, its demands and its absurdities. 

Hidden Art (L’Arte Nacosta) by Alfredo De Guiseppe. (Italy 2008).

The film follows the relationship of four characters with their various muses & ways in which they try to express their creativity.

Courtesy of LIDF

 

City of the Roma (La Cité des Roms) by Frédéric Castaignède. (France 2008).

Depiction of the obstinate efforts to integrate a Roma ghetto into the majority society and the co-existence of ethnic groups.

Karosta: Life After the USSR by Peter King. (UK/Latvia 2008).

A view on the life of a Latvian town, left in anarchic autonomy after the end of authoritarian legacy and the attempt of the local artists to restore order through creativity.

Palna’s Daughters (Palnan Tyttäret) by Kiti Luostarinen. (Finland 2008).

A film about memory, identity and the overwhelming power of love.

Courtesy of OUKA

 

Big Boy (Iso poika) by Mia Halme. (Finland 2007).

A story about one intense year of childhood.

Left Behind by Fabian Daub. (Germany 2008).

In Waldenburg all mines are closed down. Lukasz and his friend Jacek have been digging coal at their own risk for several years now. Like hundreds of other former miners who are illegally digging for the black gold on the outskirts of the city, the local police are constantly after them and they have been trapped in the dangerous tunnels several times. But they keep on going.

Red Sands by David Procter. (UK 2008).

Pamploma, Spain, the San Firmin festival. A dramatic montage of image and sound raises questions about the place of bullfighting in modern Spain. Where once the sun rose, might it now set?

Like a Man on Earth by Andrea Segre & Dagmawi Yimer. (Italy 2008).

Giving voice to the Ethiopian refugees living in Rome, Segre provides us with a direct insight into the brutal ways in which Libya, aided also by Italian and European funds, is operating to control the immigration movements of people from Africa.

Inside Out (Diritto Rovescio) by Maria Tarantino. (Belgium/Italy 2008).

The prisoners use their theatre play to denounce the living conditions inside the jail.

Courtesy of KVS

 

Recipes for Disaster (Katastrofin Aineksia) by John Webster. (Finland 2008).

This is a film about climate change. About catastrophe. And it´s funny, painfully funny. We love to blame the corporations for what´s going wrong with the planet, but we’re mistaken. It´s us, baby. You and me. We´re the real bad guys…

Apocalypse on Wheels (Apocalipsa dup ă oferi) by Ada Solomon. (Romania 2008).

The streets of Bucharest are busy with fast cars and no driver seems to follow any rules – the result is complete chaos. Director Solomon explores how the streets and the traffic in them could be seen as a metaphor for contemporary Romanian society.

This is just a selection of what’s on offer, click here for the full list of films at this year’s LIDF and here to read more.

Watch Out! The Human Rights Watch International Film Festival (London, 18-27 March 2009), featuring AFGHAN STAR by Havana Marking, BACK HOME TOMORROW by Fabrizio Lazzaretti & Paolo Santolini, BURMA VJ – REPORTING FROM A CLOSED COUNTRY by Anders Ostergaard, CRUDE by Joe Berlinger, IN THE HOLY FIRE OF REVOLUTION by Masha Novikova, LOOK INTO MY EYES by Naftaly Gliksberg, MY NEIGHBOR MY KILLER by Anne Aghion, ON THE FRONTLINES, PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL by Gini Reticker, PROJECT KASHMIR by Senain Kheshgi & Geeta Patel, REMNANTS OF A WAR by Jawad Metni, TAPOLOGO by Gabriela Gutiérrez Dewar & Sally Gutiérrez Dewar, and THE RECKONING – THE BATTLE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT by Pamela Yates.

A film festival that wagers hope against injustice, imagination against apathy. (Ariel Dorfman)

Courtesy of www.hwr.org

The number thirteen isn’t exactly a popular one, but don’t let that put you off the opening of next week’s Human Rights Watch International Film Festival. The thirteenth of its kind, the festival will run for nine days in London from March 18th with some fascinating documentaries on offer…

The London premiere of Afghan Star (2008) by Havana Marking.

After 30 years of war and the Taliban’s repression, Afghan Pop Idol is taking the nation by storm. But this is more than just a TV show. In Afghanistan you risk your life to sing. 

There are also a number of UK premieres on show:

Back Home Tomorrow (2008) by Fabrizio Lazzaretti and Paolo Santolini.

A cinematically stunning examination of two lives affected by conflict that illustrates how hope prevails in even the most desperate of settings.

Burma VJ – Reporting from a Closed Country (2008) by Anders Østergaard.

Armed with video-cameras, a tenacious band of Burmese reporters face down death to expose the repressive regime controlling their country.

Crude (2009) by Joe Berlinger.

Can 30,000 plaintiffs from five indigenous Ecuadorian tribes find justice from Chevron, one of the world’s largest oil producers?

In the Holy Fire of Revolution (2008) by Masha Novikova.

A unique take on Putin’s Russia as seen through the experiences of chess champion turned activist Garry Kasparov.

Look Into My Eyes (2008) by Naftaly Gliksberg.

Is anti-Semitism a buzz-word for all kinds of real or imagined slights? Is it an arcane expression that should be retired or is there legitimacy to outcries worldwide that anti-Semitism is again on the rise?

Pray the Devil Back to Hell (2008) by Gini Reticker.

A story of the power of women’s solidarity in Liberia in the face of almost impossible odds.

Project Kashmir (2008) by Senain Kheshgi and Geeta V. Patel.

What happens when two friends from opposite sides of the divide enter the conflict in Kashmir and find their friendship tested?

Tapologo (2008) by Gabriela Gutiérrez Dewar and Sally Gutiérrez Dewar.

A moving story of women in South Africa who have turned their tragedy into a tool.

The Reckoning – The Battle for the International Criminal Court (2009) by Pamela Yates.

An insightful documentary that follows two riveting dramas—the prosecution of unspeakable crimes and the International Criminal Court’s fight for justice.

Courtesy of www.hrw.org

 

And if that little lot isn’t enough to get excited about, the festival will also be hosting the World premiere of My Neighbor, My Killer (2009) by Anne Aghion who asks, Could you ever forgive the people who slaughtered your family? and the European premiere Remnants of a War (2009) by Jawad Metni who poses the question, How does life continue in the midst of war and its ever-present remains in Lebanon?

The festival will also be featuring several dramas:

Eden is West (2009) by Costa-Gavras.

The journey of an emigrant in search of a better life – full of heart, humour and wondrous complexities.

Endgame (2009) by Pete Travis.

A gripping and sophisticated political thriller full of unexpected heroes.

Firaaq (2008) by Nandita Das.

A layered and diverse look at the impact of communal violence on the lives of those who must continue in the aftermath of the 2002 riots in Gujarat.

UK premiere of Kabuli Kid (2008) by Barmak Akram.

An incisive look at daily life in Kabul follows the adventures of a taxi driver and his new found ward.

Laila’s Birthday (2008) by Rashid Masharawi.

A moving and humorous tale of a Palestinian taxi driver just trying to get home in time for his daughter’s birthday.

There is something for the photography aficionados out there too, as photoexhibition On The Frontlines, will be open for the full nine days, shedding light on the range of work done by Human Rights Watch over the past three decades.

If you aren’t in London next week do not fear as the festival will be heading to the following destinations:

Toronto: February 24 – March 5.

San Francisco: February 25 – March 26.

New York: June 11 – 25.

Courtesy of www.hrw.org

Click here for more information and to view the festival’s calendar.

Down Under (The 15th London Australian Film Festival, 12-22 March 2009) featuring SALUTE by Matt Norman, LIONEL by Eddie Martin & IN MY FATHER’S COUNTRY by Tom Murray.

 

Image courtesy of the Metro.

Strewth, not another film festival!! Well this time its the turn of the Aussies, as tomorrow sees the opening of the London Australian Film Festival at the Barbican in London.

You will be pleased to hear that the festival will be offering not one, not two, but a crowd-pleasing three documentaries: Salute, (2008) Lionel (2008) and In My Father’s Country (2008).

Salute, directed by Matt Norman has already won two awards. In an image that reverberated around the world, three men stand on the winner’s podium at the 1968 Olympics, two raise their black gloved hands in a power salute, the third, Australian silver medallist Peter Norman wears a badge supporting the Olympic Project For Human Rights. Interspersed with archive footage and interviews, this award-winning documentary explores the phenomenal impact of that one act on Norman’s life, from his expulsion from Australian sport to his enduring friendship with the men who call him ‘Brother’. 

Courtesy of Time Out Sydney

Lionel, directed by Eddie Martin, will be introduced by Richard Brennan on March 16th. On February 26th, 1968, a 19 year old Aboriginal boxer named Lionel Rose defeated Fighting Harada in Japan after an impressive fifteen rounds to become World Bantamweight Champion and an instant national hero. Through the use of abundant pristine archive material and interviews with Lionel and those close to him, Eddie Martin’s dazzling doc chronicles the unprecedented impact of Rose’s victory, on a successful and respected Aborigine, on interracial relationships and on the socio-political situation of Australia at the time. 

Courtesy of the Melbourne Film Festival

 

And finally, Tom Murray‘s In My Father’s Country completes the trio: The focal point of this stunning documentary is the initiation ceremony of a young boy of the Dhuruputjpi community in Northern Australia. In preparation for this rite of passage the elders try to instil the wisdom of their ancestors into the next generation; a generation that has to deal with a world that is changing and at odds with their own way of life. Tom Murray’s unique film allows you to witness and experience an exotic, almost forgotten world; one whose existence grows every day more precarious. 

Courtesy of the Melbourne Film Festival

 

 

 

 

Click here to find out more about the 15th London Australian Film Festival.