Past Events and Screenings

Among the world’s poorest countries, Bangladesh is also rapidly developing. Across the country, 7.9 million children work every day to support themselves and their families, forced to grow up at an incredibly early age. Mass E Bhat is a portrait of a developing nation through the eyes of its children. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with directors Hannan Majid and Richard York.

The Club Quiz returns after the summer break with quizmasters Caroline Johns and Dr Keith Surridge. Having been billed as one of ‘the hardest quizzes in London’ it is sure to attract the cream of Frontline Club quizzing talent. Test your wits and win tickets to a must-see play of the year, King Charles III.

Technological developments have influenced the way stories are crafted. Today, with opportunities offered by new media, stories can be told in a non-linear fashion through different platforms, or made interactive. Do these new technologies truly revolutionise the way we document the world, or merely change the relationship between the maker and the viewer? Award-winning executive producer and creative technologist of the NFB Digital Studio Loc Dao, will explore the possibilities these developments offer through some of NFB’s most innovative projects.

A new monthly social evening is being launched 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.

For this special event, Helen Chadwick Song Theatre will perform extracts from War Correspondents. The show was inspired by recent interviews with journalists who have worked on the front line, covering conflicts from Bosnia and Iraq to Chechnya and Liberia. This will be followed by a discussion and Q&A with members of the creative team, veteran journalist Martin Bell and photojournalist Kate Holt. Moderated by The Guardian correspondent, Christopher Stephen.

In 1984, a Conservative government under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared war on Britain’s unions, including the National Union of Mineworkers. Still the Enemy Within is a unique insight into the 1984–85 British Miners’ Strike, told through unique archive footage and the raw first-hand experiences of those who lived through Britain’s longest strike. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Owen Gower and producer Mark Lacey.

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

The World Health Organisation has described the Ebola epidemic in West Africa as “unparalleled in modern times”. In the largest and most complex outbreak since the virus was discovered in 1976, more than 3,000 people have died. We will be joined by a panel of experts to take a view of the situation on the ground, how Ebola is being combated and what more needs to be done. We will also be looking at the stigma that surrounds the virus and the long-term impact this outbreak will have on the region.

On 8 March 1971, eight ordinary citizens broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania. The members of the self-proclaimed Citizens’ Commission to Investigate the FBI picked the lock on the door, took every file in the office, loaded them into suitcases and walked out the front door. Mailed anonymously, these documents started to show up in newsrooms, unleashing fierce debates on whether or not to publish them. Despite demands by the Nixon administration to suppress the story, The Washington Post went to press, uncovering the FBI’s vast and illegal regime of spying and intimidation of Americans exercising their First Amendment rights. This screening will be followed by a Q&A via Skype with director Johanna Hamilton.

Thirteen years on from the 9/11 terrorist attack on the US by Al Qaeda, how has the organisation evolved around the world and what are its links with developing groups such a ISIS and al-Shabaab? A panel of experts will be joining us to examine the tactics and strategies these affiliated groups have developed and what is being done to combat them.

In one of the last remaining wildernesses in South East Asia, Cambodian communities struggle to defend their forests. Rubber companies illegally cut down resin trees that the local population depends on, arguing the rubber industry is good for the area, providing jobs and development. In April 2012, environmentalist Chut Wutty was stopped and shot dead at an illegal, military-controlled site in the Cardamom mountains. I am Chut Wutty exposes the fierce battle against illegal logging. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Fran Lambrick, Josie Cohen from Global Witness and Cambodian campaigner Kim Sen.

Almost 20 years ago, the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina came to an end. Children born after the fighting stopped are entering adulthood today, but are still facing violence, abuse and abandonment. Through the stories of four remarkable young people, filmmakers Sophia Scott and Georgia Scott capture the hopes and dreams of this new generation, forced to live with the ongoing effects of the war. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with the co-directors.

The Process gives a snapshot of contemporary life inside the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, revealing what the politics mean for those who are waiting for peace. It is a tale from the ground, of life governed from above. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Joshua Baker.

As the people of Scotland go to the polls we will be showing the live coverage of the Scottish independence referendum in the clubroom. A special menu will be served, including Innis & Gunn lager and haggis with new potatoes, broccoli & neeps. To book a table for dinner please call us on 0207 479 8950.

Is Libya on the brink of becoming a failed state? Three years after Nato-backed rebels overthrew Muammar Gaddafi and the country was held up as the success story of the Arab Spring, Libya is deeply divided. As Libya’s parliament calls for foreign intervention to protect civilians from deadly clashes between rival militia groups, we will be asking what has gone wrong in the country.

In 1945, a team of top filmmakers came together to make a documentary about the horrific findings in the concentration camps. This film would provide lasting, undeniable evidence of the Nazis’ unspeakable crimes. Despite initial support from the British and US governments, the film was never finished. Night Will Fall chronicles the untold story of the film’s history. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director André Singer and producer Sally Angel.

Following the success of our members’ BookNights with Carlotta Gall, Tim Butcher and Nick Davies, we welcome Patrick Cockburn, who will – with striking topicality – talk about his new book, The Jihadis Return: ISIS and the New Sunni Uprising.

For more information about membership and the other benefits on offer, please contact Membership Coordinator, Sophie Kayes.

We are very excited to present the World News section at this month’s Sunday Papers Live. This day-long event features poets, politicians, musicians, actors and writers covering all the sections of your Sunday paper: travel, world news, style, gardening, sport, business, culture and more.

With everyone talking about the future of journalism, it’s easy to forget what’s happening now. Do paywalls work? Is the industry still in crisis? Is it still too white and middle class? And where are the jobs?

Grapevine events will be inviting some of the country’s top editors for a night of questions – and answers.

In July 2011, revelations that journalists from The News of the World hacked the phone of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler created public outrage. The man behind that story, and the years of investigative work that came before it, was Nick Davies. He will be joining us in conversation with Stewart Purvis, to talk about the investigation, the revelations and the future of press regulation. We will be asking how the press have changed in a post-Leveson world and whether they have really reformed.