News
Sex and society in a changing Arab world
By Alexandra Glynn There’s nothing like the subject of sex to get a room of adults giggling, as Shereen El Feki proved when she came to talk about her new book, Sex and the Citadel at The Frontline Club on Tuesday 16 April. Speaking to columnist and broadcaster, Jenni Russell, the former Economist writer and Al Jazeera […]
Kony and Uganda – Peace vs. Justice? Or a different conversation altogether?
By Jim Treadway On Monday 15th April, the Dutch Embassy and Time magazine partnered to co-organise a screening at the Frontline Club of Peace vs Justice: a documentary about the violence of Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), particularly against children, in northern Uganda. An expert panel discussion followed.
Dirty Wars: Jeremy Scahill investigates from Afghanistan to Yemen and the US Congress
by Sally Ashley-Cound On Friday 12th April the Frontline Club hosted the first UK screening of Dirty Wars; author and investigative reporter Jeremy Scahill‘s chilling account of his journey from a remote corner of Afghanistan to Yemen, the American Congress and Somalia as he investigated the rise of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). Producer […]
A country’s struggle between the glamourous world of Eurovision and the unrealistic demand for democracy
By Caroline Schmitt The screening of “Amazing Azerbaijan!” on Thursday, 11th April was followed by a Q&A with the film’s director Liz Mermin. The film contrasts the two-faced Azerbaijan: on one hand there was the glamour before and during Eurovision, carefully constructed by the government; the other side is that investigative journalists like Khadija Ismayilova regularly […]
North Korea tensions, China GDP, Thatcher funeral, Italian presidential politics, and Friends of Syria – the world next week
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 15 April North Korea marks the anniversary of the birth of the country’s founder (and grandfather of its current leader) Kim Il-sung. There has been much speculation that the current regime may be […]
The unreported price of war
By Natricia Duncan The occurrence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) amongst soldiers is being downplayed, claims author and former Territorial Army soldier Jake Wood. “When I got back from Afghan we had this briefing and it said that 99.9 per cent of soldiers will not suffer from PTSD. Clearly that’s bollocks” he said in a […]
Middle East peace, Cyprus crisis, North Korean tensions and John Kerry everywhere – the world next week
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 8 April US Secretary of State John Kerry continues his visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories on Monday (and Tuesday) where he is holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and […]
Contesting identities – exploring the role of women in India
By Nishat Ahmed The preview screening of The World Before Her held the audience captive at the Frontline Club on Tuesday 2 April. It was not just the trials and tribulations of two opposites – a beauty contest and a fundamentalist Hindu training camp – but a means by which to focus on the contesting roles of […]
Fixing a broken food system: why food is not the problem
By Holly Young “Hunger is the most heartbreaking and the most unnecessary crisis in the world” stated David Bull, executive director of UNICEF UK as he opened the session on Tuesday 26 March.
Russia’s winter of discontent
By Jonathan Couturier On Monday 25 March, the Frontline Club screened Winter, Go Away – a documentary assembling the works of 10 young filmmakers, as they captured the day-to-day turbulence, violence and disaffection fuelling the anti-Putin protests in early 2012. The camera follows the different faces of the opposition: young and old, rich and poor, famous and anonymous […]
World week ahead: Bernanke London-bound, Cypriot banks re-open and Pope goes to jail
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 15 March On Monday, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will host annual consultations in Tokyo with the European Union, attended by European Council President Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission President Jose Manuel […]
The lessons learned from Iraq and living in a more sceptical age
by Sally Ashley-Cound The question of what has actually been learned from the Iraq war ten years on was put to a panel chaired by Channel 4 News’ Jon Snow at the Frontline Club on 20 March 2013.
The secret world behind the occupation
By John Pryor Recent Israeli elections have awakened new discussions about the future of Israeli-Palestinian relations. With this in mind, an audience gathered at the Frontline Club on 18 March for a screening of Academy Award-nominated The Gatekeepers. This powerful film provides a unique insight into the aftermath of the Six Day War and the occupation from […]
“This is their freedom”
Olly Lambert‘s new documentary, Syria – Across the Lines, was screened at the Frontline Club on March 19, just as government and rebel forces each accused the other of a poison gas attack on a village near Aleppo. His film looks at a society in the midst of being torn apart along once-faint sectarian lines. […]
Dissident blogger documentary brings Forbidden Voices to London
By Alexandra Glynn A week after International Women’s Day, women were still very much in the spotlight for the screening of Forbidden Voices, a documentary about three female dissident bloggers at the Frontline Club on Friday 15 March. Director Barbara Miller’s powerful film follows three women – from Cuba, China and Iran – who defy the […]
Documenting the world through short films
By Joëlle Pouliot On March 14, the audience at the Frontline Club travelled around the globe through five short films. All documentaries were related to current affairs, but the styles of storytelling ranged from comedy and animation, to the more classical approach.
World week ahead: Pope Francis’ inauguration, Obama’s first trip to Israel, ceasefire in Turkey, and Musharraf return to Pakistan
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 18 March On Monday, the UN Human Rights Council will formally consider a highly critical report on Israeli settler activities that was published at the end of January. Meanwhile, in Yemen a national […]
Kenya’s past, present and future: Words of caution and grounds for optimism
By Holly Young The event on the 11 March at the Frontline Club was a panel debate analysing the previous week’s much anticipated election results in Kenya. The panel, chaired by Audrey Brown, producer and presenter on BBC Focus on Africa and Network Africa, examined the implications of Uhuru Kenyatta election as Kenya’s new President, […]
The Grey Line: Portraits of doubt and courage
By Jim Treadway Jo Metson Scott spent the past five years photographing American and British soldiers who spoke out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Using their letters and portraits, her book The Grey Line explores the soldiers’ reasons for doing so, and the fates that have awaited them. Metson Scott introduced The Grey Line […]
Commonwealth reluctant to act against Sri Lanka
Commonwealth chiefs are facing growing calls to censure Sri Lanka over continued human rights abuses and relocate a high-level summit due to take place in Colombo later this year. But rather than refer the country to its Ministerial Action Group, which deals with persistent or serious violations of the Commonwealth’s values, the 54-member body is […]
Afghani children held hostage in the drug trade
By Nishat Ahmed Children pay the heaviest price for Afghanistan’s drugs trade – according to a powerful account by journalist Najibullah Quraishi and producer Jamie Doran in their documentary Opium Brides. Opening to a packed screening at the Frontline Club on Friday 7 March, the film exposed the failure of the Afghan government and its […]
Falklands referendum results, UK-Russia talks, and a new Chinese President make for busy week ahead
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 11 March On Monday, a two-day referendum on the political status of the Falklands Islands wraps-up, with the results due that evening. The referendum is largely symbolic, since the islanders overwhelmingly favour retaining […]
Syria: Who should help and when?
By Sally Ashley-Cound Paddy O’Connell started this month’s First Wednesday with a tribute to Marie Colvin who was killed in Homs a year a ago. After introducing the panel O’Connell got straight on to the news announced today by Foreign Secretary William Hague that the UK will be sending a £13m package of logistical and […]
When reporting from Haiti, Mali or Syria, are our cameras turned off too quickly?
By Caroline Schmitt What is the relationship between the extent of a disaster, its media coverage and the resulting help from charities and the public? A panel of Sky News and BBC journalists, DFID and experts with a background in humanitarian aid analysed these dependencies at a ShelterBox event hosted by the Frontline Club on March 5 […]
Al Sweady inquiry, Kenyan elections, and Lagarde in Dublin – the world keeps turning without a Pope
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 4 March Monday will see the long-awaited opening of the Al Sweady inquiry, examining the circumstances surrounding a 2002 incident in Maysan province, Iraq, involving British security forces. Following a firefight on 14 […]
Calls to support fledgling freelancers as more flock to war zones
By Helena Williams Calls to support the next generation of independent journalists working in conflict zones were made just days after French freelance photographer Olivier Voisin was killed by shrapnel in Syria.
Chavez’s Legacy
By Jim Treadway As cancer threatens Hugo Chavez’s life, an expert panel considered his legacy before a sold-out audience on 26 February. “He’s this wonderful presence [in person],” remarked Rory Carroll, who spent from 2006 t0 2012 in Caracas as The Guardian‘s chief correspondent for South America, and whose latest book Commandante profiles Chavez in depth.
Mission accomplished? Weak police as the allies retreat from Afghanistan
By Alex Glynn Reporter Ben Anderson joined a panel at the Frontline Club on Monday 25 February to discuss his new 30-minute documentary for BBC’s Panorama on the allied troops’ legacy in Afghanistan and the condition of the Afghan police. Will Pike, a former British Army Major in Afghanistan, and Dawood Azami, former BBC World Service Bureau Chief in Kabul, joined Anderson to […]
Deepwater Horizon trial, Kerry-Lavrov meeting, and Papal resignation frame busy week in global affairs
By Jasper Wenban-Smith, international editor of ForesightNews. A round up of world news in the week ahead from journalist resource ForesightNews. Monday 25 February Voting in Italy’s general election, which began on Sunday, will conclude on Monday. Suggestions that former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi may be staging a last-minute surge have rattled financial markets recently, […]
