Past Events and Screenings

Showcase is back in June and this time we will be focusing on the compelling, inquisitive and thought-provoking images that are being captured around the world. The evening will feature a selection of work by photojournalists Daniel Berehulak, Eman Mohammed, Tim Freccia and Alvaro Ybarra Zavala. Following this, award-winning photojournalist Robert King will be in conversation with roving foreign correspondent for The Times, Anthony Loyd.

With a panel of experts we will take a view of events on the ground and the measures being taken by Iraq, its neighbours and the international community. Asking how ISIS has been able advance so quickly and what can be done to prevent further escalation of sectarian polarisation. We will also be looking at the new alliances that might be formed in this new front on the fight against extremism.

At night, a group of young men and women gather on the street corners of Freetown, Sierra-Leone. These Freetown Streetboys, as they call themselves, are amputees, some as a result of the civil-war that ended 10 years ago. Shado’man closely follows the lives of this tight community and delves into the inner world of each character to reveal the dignity of humans surviving under inhumane conditions. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Boris Gerrets.

The court in Cairo is expected to reach a verdict on the Al Jazeera English journalists accused of aiding and abetting terrorism on Monday 23 June. The case has provoked worldwide condemnation as a trial of the free press in Egypt. Journalism itself has been on trial. Mohamed Fahmy, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed will have been incarcerated for 177 days on their next day in court. Four other Al Jazeera journalists are also being tried in absentia.

Former hostages Terry Waite and Alan Johnston will join Amnesty’s Egypt expert Nicholas Piachaud at the Frontline Club on Friday 20 June at  11 AM to call for the Al Jazeera English journalists to be found not guilty of all the charges and sent home to their families.

Following months of unrest, Ukraine has a new leader. Known as the Chocolate King, Petro Poroshenko is tasked with restoring law and order, and steering the country away from conflict.

As fighting in the east continues, we will be looking at the challenges that lie ahead for Poroshenko and asking how he will unite the country.

This event is organised by Amnesty International’s International Secretariat.

Governments often fail to protect whistleblowers and instead subject them to various forms of retaliation, including prosecution, for disclosing information governments wrongly want to keep secret. A panel of speakers with first-hand knowledge of these issues will talk about the experience of whistleblowers who face retaliation for their actions. They will explore how whistleblowers can be protected, and by extension protect the public’s right to information.

Before Serbia could begin negotiations to join the European Union, it had to prove it could achieve a modus vivendi with the disputed territory of Kosovo. The Agreement follows the negotiations lead by veteran diplomat Robert Cooper, whose patience reveals how diplomacy actually works, keeping the parties together as the delegates exchange pointed barbs or keep the other side waiting for hours. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Karen Stokkendal Poulsen and protagonist and EU peace negotiator Robert Cooper.

Filmed between August 2011 and August 2013, Return to Homs is an intimate portrait of a group of young revolutionaries in the city of Homs. Filmmaker Talal Derki followed the journey of two close friends whose lives were turned upside down by the events in Syria. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with producer Orwa Nyrabia via Skype.

As Abdel Fattah al-Sisi takes his place as Egypt’s second democratically elected leader, we will be looking at his roadmap for the country. Are we seeing a return to military dominance of politics and what does that signal for Egypt?

For this year,s Frontline Club session at Sheffield Doc/Fest, we bring together a panel to discuss Trust and the Changing Face of News Gathering.

In August 2012, mine workers in one of South Africa’s biggest platinum mines began a strike for better wages. This peaceful demonstration was brought down violently by an intervention from state police forces, killing 34 miners and injuring many more. Miners Shot Down reconstructs what happened in Marikana and the aftermath, through testimonies and previously unseen police, security and TV footage. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Rehad Desai moderated by journalist and filmmaker Inigo Gilmore.

The recent abduction by militant Islamist group Boko Haram of more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls sparked global outrage, leading to the #BringBackOurGirls campaign and military assistance from Britain, the US, France and China. With attacks in northern Nigeria on the increase we will be bringing together a panel of experts to examine the emergence of Boko Haram and what is being done to combat them.

On 10 June, world leaders and NGOs will gather in London for a global summit with the aim to create “irreversible momentum against sexual violence in conflict and practical action that impacts those on the ground”. Ahead of the summit, we will be joined by a panel of speakers who have been working towards this aim for many years. They will be discussing what needs to be done to make it a reality.

Secrets of the Vatican chronicles the events that led to Pope Benedict’s unexpected resignation and looks into the challenges faced by his successor Pope Francis. It investigates these complex and sensitive issues through undercover footage and interviews with Vatican insiders, abuse victims and whistleblowers. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Antony Thomas.

Founded in 2010 by a group of Syrian filmmakers, Abounaddara anonymously releases weekly films on the web in order to avoid censorship. These short films are a testimony of the fight for freedom in Syria. The film Syria: Snapshots of History in the Making is constructed from these short films and forms an intimate journey into a society on the brink. The screening will be preceded by a discussion with journalist and head of WARM Remy Ourdan , producer of Abounaddara Films Charif Kiwan , photographers Patrick Chauvel and Paul Lowe.

Federal Penal Colony No. 56 is situated in central Russia, in the middle of a forest larger than Germany and a seven-hour drive from the nearest city. In winter, temperatures fall to 40 degrees below zero. There are 260 prisoners serving out their sentences, all of them for murder. Nick Read and Mark Franchetti gained access to this isolated world and talked to the men about their crimes, their punishment and what freedom means to them. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Nick Read.

The politics of Iran is frequently analysed and debated on the international stage but rarely do we glimpse what everyday life is like in Tehran. In her new book City of Lies, Ramita Navai returns to the city where she was born to explore the lives of its residents. She will be joining us in conversation with the BBC’s Middle East Editor, Jeremy Bowen, to talk about her exploration of modern day Tehran and what life in the city signals about how the country will develop.

This event is in partnership with BBC World Service.

Cyber pioneer Rafal Rohozinski will be joining us in conversation with Robin Pembrooke, head of product at BBC News Online, to explore what the next generation news organisation will look like and the techniques and technology that they will be using. We will be discussing the possibilities they present as well as the challenges in ensuring the validity and accuracy of content.

The event will follow a day long workshop on Monday 19 May, for details see here.

Abu Haraz can no longer be found on the map. The small North Sudanese village now wallows under 35 meters of water in the middle of an artificial lake 180 kilometres long. For seven years, filmmaker Maciej Drygas observed and documented the daily life of Abu Haraz’s citizens as they protested against the construction of the dam and eventually got ready to be relocated to a place unknown to them. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Maciej Drygas.

Virunga, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, is Africa’s oldest national park, a UNESCO world heritage site and contested ground among insurgents seeking to topple the government who see untold profits in the land. Virunga portrays the personal experiences of the park staff as they prepare to protect everything they’ve worked for in an ongoing political and environmental crisis. This sneak preview screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Orlando von Einsiedel.