News
Reporting on Open Government and Transparency – Survey
I’m conducting some global research into media views of open government, transparency and accountability and need to get as many responses from journalists as possible – especially outside the US and EU. This is an independent project but the conclusions will be presented to the Open Government Partnership summit in London in October to representatives […]
Exploring Jan Gehl’s Humanist City Spaces
By Jim Treadway “Jan Gehl might be the most famous architect that you’ve never heard of,” filmmaker Andreas Dalsgaard told a sold-out Frontline Club audience Tuesday evening 20 August, where he screened his latest project: The Human Scale. The movie explores Gehl’s innovation in architecture and city planning over the last several decades, from his native […]
Where next for a post-Morsi Egypt?
By Daniel Alan Kennedy The 2011 revolution in Egypt raised hopes that democratic institutions would replace Hosni Mubarak’s dictatorship. The recent removal of President Morsi by the Egyptian military and the violence on the streets that followed has instead left Egypt facing an uncertain future. Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East Editor and renowned Egyptian journalist Yosri Fouda met […]
Will 2013 see the end of Mugabe’s 33-year rule?
By Dan Tookey After a tense five year coalition between Robert Mugabe’s Zanu-PF and Morgan Tsvangirai’s Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), Zimbabwe is back at the ballot box. On the eve of the polls closing on 31 July, the Frontline Club hosted a debate with four experts to discuss what this election will mean for […]
Syria Conflict: Developments on the ground and on the international stage
By Dan Tookey The month of Ramadan is usually a time for festivities and celebration but in Syria there is little to rejoice about. The United Nations has estimated around 93,000 Syrians have died since the civil war began in 2011 and the number of refugees fleeing the country recently exceeded 1.5 million. On Wednesday […]
Shorts at the Frontline Club: The Different Faces of Documentary Filmmaking
By Daniel Alan Kennedy While many people often have a conception of what a documentary “should be” in terms of length, style, content or subject, the Frontline Club’s July 19 screening of four short documentary films demonstrated the breath of different choices available to filmmakers. Ranging from 8 to 25 minutes, the films covered subjects […]
Egypt’s New Roadmap
By Dan Tookey Following Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi’s removal from power by the Egyptian military on the 3 July, the Frontline Club hosted a debate, ten days later, exploring what has happened and asking what these events mean for Egypt’s future.
The Frontline Club’s Tenth Anniversary Summer
November 2003 – President Bush visits the UK, bombers attack Istanbul, the occupation of Iraq beds down and England win the Rugby World Cup. In amongst these events the Frontline Club was born from the Frontline News Television agency (FNTV). It had a single clear aim – to champion independent journalism. This summer sees the […]
Summer Screenings at the Frontline Club
This summer Tuesday’s are the day to come to the Frontline Club for our summer season exploring how technological changes shape the way we view and document the world. Tuesday 30 July 2013, 7:00 PM – Side by Side For almost one hundred years there was only one way to make a movie: photochemical film. Over […]
In Surveillance We Trust?
By Jim Treadway The world is coming to grips with the depth and scale of government surveillance following revelations, released by whistleblower Edward Snowden, about the US’s National Security Agency (NSA) Prism program. On 9 July a panel of experts convened at the Frontline Club to debate the balance between personal privacy and national security.
SMASH & GRAB: The Story of the Pink Panthers Q&A
By George Symonds “Only superhumans could be as good as them.” On Monday 8 July, the Frontline Club screened SMASH & GRAB: The Story of the Pink Panthers. With unprecedented access to the most successful diamond thieves in history, director Havana Marking took viewers on a candid journey into the minds of the Pink Panthers. […]
Frontline Club Audience Survey
As we approach our 10th anniversary in November, we are taking time to reflect on the past decade and plan for the future. As part of this we would like to hear from you, the Frontline audience. Please take a moment to fill in this short survey by clicking here. By completing the survey before Monday […]
Talking to the Taliban
by Sally Ashley-Cound The Taliban have made steps towards wanting to be seen as a legitimate political force, by setting up an operations office in Qatar on 18 June this year. The First Wednesday discussion chaired by Paddy O’Connell at the Frontline Club on 3 July asked: Is talking to the Taliban a solution? John D McHugh, […]
Meet the Director: Havana Marking
On Monday 8th July we welcome Havana Marking to the Frontline Club to present her newest documentary Smash and Grab, which premiered at June’s Sheffield Doc/Fest. Marking previously gained widespread recognition for her first feature documentary Afghan Star, which won her two Sundance Awards in 2009 for its chronicle of the eponymous Afghan TV talent […]
‘You don’t have to be hit by a bullet to be a victim of war’: Reflections of Gino Strada, war surgeon
By Helena Williams “You don’t have to be hit by a bullet or step on landmine to be a victim of war.”
Alex Gibney’s We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks divides the Frontline audience
By Alex Glynn On Friday 28 June there was a palpable sense of anticipation among the Frontline Club audience, ahead of the preview screening of Alex Gibney’s most recent documentary We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks. The film chronicles the history of WikiLeaks and looks at the roles Bradley Manning and Julian Assange played in what was referred to as […]
The Act of Killing: Holding up a Dark Mirror to Society
By Ratha Lehall The second Between the Lines Festival follow-up event took place at the ICA on 29 June, and was a showing of the director’s cut of the Act of Killing followed by a Q&A with director Joshua Oppenheimer. This remarkable film provides a look at the 1965-66 anti-Communist mass killings in Indonesia from the perspective of the former members […]
With Iran’s new president, cautious optimism
By Jim Treadway The election of cleric Hassan Rouhani to Iran’s presidency last week has Iranians and the world turning their heads to wonder: is the Islamic Republic changing direction? Will Rouhani’s promised pragmatism and reform replace the hardline conservatism of incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? An expert panel convened at the Frontline Club on 26 June, […]
SMASH & GRAB: The Story of the Pink Panthers
Next month we are pleased to welcome director Havana Marking to the Frontline Club alongside her new film ‘SMASH & GRAB: The Story of the Pink Panthers’. She managed to track down five members of the elusive criminal gang, a feat which Sheffield Doc/Fest described as ‘nothing short of extraordinary’. Below is a short teaser […]
Digital Media and Reporting Conflict: The book and the end of Reporting War
This blog has been dormant for a while and the publication of Digital Media and Reporting Conflict: Blogging and the BBC’s Coverage of War and Terrorism is the right time to formally close it. It’s been an amazing journey over the last five years or so and I’ve really enjoyed working on the project, documenting it on the Frontline Club website, […]
Entries for the 2013 Frontline Club Awards are now open.
The Frontline Club Awards return again for 2013, the tenth anniversary year of the club. The past six years of the awards have seen many emerging talents and established names recognized by their peers for outstanding work in their fields, and this year will be no different. See here for entry forms and further information.
Fortress – Glimpses into Transnistria
By George Symonds On Wednesday 19 June, the Frontline Club audience burst into spontaneous applause to the precision choreography of a Transnistrian military parade. The footage was part of the documentary film Fortress, shown at the preview screening of Open City Docs Fest, supported by the Czech Centre London as part of One World Echoes in London. […]
Phone Lines Down
Unfortunately we are currently experiencing some technical difficulties at Frontline HQ, and our phone systems are down. If you have any queries please email events@frontlineclub.com, and include a telephone number if you would like one of the team to call you back. We apologise for any difficulty this may cause! The Frontline Team.
Reconstructing Haiti
By Joëlle Pouliot Nearly three and a half years after the deadly earthquake that shattered Haiti, the country is still in crisis. Thousands of displaced Haitians live precariously in tented camps, while cholera continues to take lives. On 17 June at the Frontline Club, a panel of reporters and experts from the humanitarian aid community, […]
Upcoming Screenings – Now on YouTube
You can now watch trailers for (almost) all of our upcoming screenings on our new YouTube playlist, with imminent screenings including We Steal Secrets including a Q+A with director Alex Gibney, Keanu Reeves’ Side by Side and The Act of Killing by director Joshua Oppenheimer and producer Werner Herzog.
US Foreign Policy – overwhelmed by its own eloquence?
By Caroline Schmitt A president’s second term is usually regarded as the one in which he has the potential to reinvent the world. On 13 June, a panel chaired by author and journalist Michael Goldfarb explored the foreign policy legacy of the Obama administration. Kim Ghattas, BBC State Department correspondent and author of The Secretary: A Journey with Hillary Clinton […]
What Took You So Long? – Talking Strategy with the Guerrilla Filmmakers
By George Symonds From Somalia to Iraq, Haiti to Columbia and many places in between, filmmakers What Took You So Long? do not only make films – they explore, connect and collaborate with communities worldwide. Ahead of their distinguished Guerrilla Filmmaking Workshop at the Frontline Club, we caught up with the team for an exclusive Q&A: […]
Critiquing the media’s approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict
By Dan Tookey On Wednesday 12 June, the Middle East Monitor launched Ibrahim Hewitt’s new book Memo to the Editor at the Frontline Club. The book is a compilation of letters addressed to the editors of major UK newspapers. It is a critique of how they have misreported major issues in the Israel-Palestine conflict from […]
A Daughter’s Memoir of Burma
By Laura Hughes On 11 June, the Frontline Club hosted Wendy Law-Yone, in conversation with the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall. She was discussed her new memoir based on the manuscripts of her father, Ed Law-Yone, the founder of Burma’s The Nation newspaper. It was not until 20 years after his death that Law-Yone found the […]
One for Ten: Victims of Death Row
By Natricia Duncan On Monday 10 June a packed Frontline Cub witnessed a revolution in documentary-making as the One For Ten team presented their ground-breaking, crowdfunded online documentary series on death row exonerees. Co-directors Will Francome, Mark Pizzey and producer Laura Shacham described how they set off on a road trip across the US to make ‘live’, […]
