Past Events and Screenings

In 1944, John G. Morris was a young picture editor working in London for Life magazine, overseeing the photographic reportage of World War II. Normally confined to the picture desk, in June of that year he went to France to coordinate the coverage of the D-Day landings, bringing back 14 rolls of black-and-white film, which have remained in his personal archive until now.

Morris, now 97, will be joining us in conversation with Robert Pledge, the co-founder of the international independent picture agency Contact Press Images, to present his images and discuss his world of photographic reportage.

We welcome our members, both recently joined and ongoing, for an evening of conversation and drinks kindly sponsored by Chivas Regal.

Bringing an African perspective to the devastating spread of the virus, award-winning reporter Sorious Samura tells the inside story of the Ebola outbreak from the worst hit country – Liberia. He also reveals the heroic effort being made by teams on the front line and the deep anger and mistrust held by Liberians towards their government in this time of crisis. This timely and challenging film offers an inside view of a country living with Ebola. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Clive Patterson & Emmy- and BAFTA-winning reporter Sorious Samura. Moderated by Tom Clarke, science editor for Channel 4 News.

For our members’ BookNight in November we are delighted to welcome the acclaimed playwright, poet, and librettist Dan O’Brien. He will give a reading from his book of poems War Reporter, as well as from his critically acclaimed play The Body of an American, based on the poems.

War Reporter is focused on photojournalist Paul Watson, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his 1993 photograph of a dead American being dragged through the streets of Mogadishu. Deriving from correspondence between poet and photojournalist and their eventual meeting, the collection of poems bears unsparing witness to the incalculable damage inflicted by contemporary warfare.

For 14 years, Sir Harold Evans was editor of The Sunday Times. Attacking the Devil focuses on his investigation into the drug thalidomide and how he defied the Attorney General and the political establishment to expose the story. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with co-directors Jacqui Morris and David Morris.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Frontline Club is pleased to be part of a pan-European simultaneous screening of the new documentary 1989 by award-winning director Anders Østergaard. The creative documentary 1989 is a high-politics drama about the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Iron Curtain. Østergaard recreates the events of 1989 and invites the audience into the secret meeting rooms through a mixture of testimonials, archive material, recreation and reconstructed dialogues of the key political players.

The second of a new monthly social evening for journalists and others in the London media world. The London Press Club, which has been bringing the industry together since 1882, is resurrecting the tradition of regular drinks, on the back of popular demand.

The Frontline Club hosts the evening on the first Tuesday of each month. No entrance fee is required and there is a pay bar.

This event is organised by the Czech Centre London.
Twenty-five years ago in December 1989, Václav Havel was elected as President of Czechoslovakia, marking the end of the Velvet Revolution and with it, the culmination of 41 years of communist rule. By his side throughout was Michael Žantovský, Havel’s press secretary, speech-writer, translator and close friend. The pair met as dissidents under communist rule and remained close until Havel’s death in 2011. Žantovský will be joining us in conversation with Edward Lucas, senior editor at The Economist, to bear witness to Havel’s extraordinary life as documented in his new book Havel: A Life, and to share his own experiences of living through the Velvet Revolution and the formation of the Czech Republic.

Join us for an evening of short documentaries, from different parts of the world, covering a wide range of topics. Shorts at the Frontline Club showcases moving, striking and funny films, exploring the many different faces of documentary filmmaking.

Anonymous, a group of hackers, activists and technologists, came to the fore in 2008 when they attacked the church of Scientology. Since then their coordinated collective action has come up against global corporations and supported the Arab revolutionaries, but how much do we know about who they are and what motivates them? Anthropologist and Anonymous confidante, interpreter, and erstwhile mouthpiece, Gabriella Coleman will be with us in conversation with Ben Hammersley, presenter of the new BBC World News series Cybercrime with Ben Hammersley, to shed some light on the motivations and culture of this secretive group.

In January 2013, filmmaker Laura Poitras was several years into the making of a film about abuses of national security in post­-9/11 America when she started receiving encrypted e­mails from someone identifying himself as “citizen four”, who was ready to blow the whistle on the massive covert surveillance programmes run by the NSA and other intelligence agencies. He turned out to be Edward Snowden. The film that resulted from this series of tense encounters is absolutely unique in the history of cinema: a 100% real-­life thriller unfolding minute-by-minute before our eyes.

This event is organised by The Artistic Horde.

The format of the evening will be varied; as well as performances from the poetry finalists themselves, there will also be a brief talk about War Child’s work, a performance by Anthony Anaxagorou and a musical interlude by a fantastic young talent. In the audience there will also be a range of well known poets, such as Owen Shears and Philip Wells.

Desperate for a better life, men, women and children risk perilous journeys for the promise of prosperity in the UK, Europe or America. Those who manage to reach their destination will often find themselves sold into a life of sexual exploitation, forced labour, street crime and domestic servitude. Ahead of the Thomson Reuters Foundation Trust Women conference, at which this subject will be discussed extensively, we will be bringing together a panel of experts to examine how we can tackle the problem of human trafficking.

This event is organised by the Overseas Development Institute (ODI).

On 23 October 1984, the BBC aired a landmark report on the famine in Ethiopia. Describing the crisis as a ‘biblical famine’, the report galvanised the public, spurred the UK government into action and prompted the creation of the infamous Live Aid concert. Join the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) as they examine the current state of conflict and disaster reporting and how humanitarian agencies can work with the media to raise awareness and much-needed funds.

Winner of the Orwell Prize for Books 2014, Alan Johnson MP will be in conversation with David Davis MP about how politics can shape lives, and how personal histories can shape one’s political values. The debate will be chaired by the director of the Orwell Prize, Professor Jean Seaton.

We are delighted to host the launch of the autumn edition of the Index on Censorship magazine, where there will be lively, participatory discussion, interrogating and debating the question: Eyes Wide Shut? Will the future of journalism mean we are any better informed?

This event will take place at Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs Building, 420 West 118th Street #1, room 1302, New York.

We are delighted to be teaming up with the Overseas Press Club of America (OPC) for two events on freelance safety. The first will be held at Club Quarters in New York and the second in November at the Frontline Club in London.

After four nights featuring Afghanistan, Bosnia, phone-hacking and Iraq – we’re going to shift into a more literary gear to welcome editor and writer Robert McCrum. Robert is reaching the half-way mark in compiling a vast list of, and guide to, the hundred greatest novels of all time – week by week, one year in, one to go. The books “choose themselves”, says Robert, but how fascinating it will be to hear how he chooses novels that choose themselves; what gets left out and how the public reacts.

The Term tells the unique inside story of the Russian opposition movement as Vladimir Putin settles into the Kremlin for his third term, through exclusive access to anti-corruption blogger Aleksei Navalny and other key opposition figures, including Putin’s god-daughter, Ksenia Sobchak, and Solidarnost leader, Ilya Yashin. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with with producer Max Tuula via Skype.

Described as “the foremost television cameraman of his generation”, Darren Conway, or DC as he is widely known, has been documenting global events for two decades. He has received the RTS award for best news cameraman six times and earlier this year he was awarded an OBE for services to British broadcast journalism. He will be joining Vin Ray in conversation to reflect on a career capturing some of the most poignant pictures of the past 20 years.