Past Events and Screenings

Interest in the potential for using drones, or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), for journalism is growing. As the technology becomes cheaper and easier to use, journalist are experimenting with using drones for news gathering. We will be bringing together a panel of experts to explore the potential for the use of drones in journalism and to discuss the challenges this new technology presents.

The conflict in Syria has taken the lives of many journalists and many more have been kidnapped and remain missing. The level of risk for journalists in the country is extremely high and yet the imperative to cover what is happening there is equally so.

In partnership with the Overseas Press Club we will be bringing together a panel of journalists and editors to talk about the challenges to journalism that have arisen from the high risk of covering the conflict in Syria and the work that needs to be done to better ensure the safety of journalists working there.

To mark the Frontline Club’s tenth anniversary, we will be looking back on ten years in documentary filmmaking. Moderated by Hot Docs’ head of programming Charlotte Cook, producer John Battsek, controller of BBC One Charlotte Moore and producer Christopher Hird will be exploring the major developments that have taken place over the past decade.

The November edition of our popular club quiz, in aid of the Frontline Fund (formerly known as the Fixers’ Fund).

Following our tenth anniversary exhibition at the Prix Bayeux Awards in October, we are very pleased to welcome Prix Bayeux to the Frontline Club to celebrate their twentieth anniversary. They will be bringing together a panel of their laureates including: Jeremy Bowen, BBC Middle East Editor; Christina Lamb, author and journalist with The Sunday Times; Neil Connery, correspondent for ITV News; Adrien Jaulmes, reporter with Le Figaro; and Vaughan Smith, Frontline Club founder.

North Korea’s supreme leader Kim Jong Un is the world’s youngest dictator, ruling the world’s most repressive state. Through unique undercover material, director and producer James Jones reveals cracks in the regime and investigates the impact the information revolution has had in North Korea. This Channel 4 Dispatches preview screening will be followed by a panel debate with director James Jones. Other speakers to be confirmed.

Director Nicholas Wrathall chronicles Gore Vidal’s rich and multifaceted life through archival footage from his legendary on-air career as well as candid interviews and observational footage captured in his final years. This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Nicholas Wrathall.

Members, new and old, join us for our November meetup, with drinks kindly supplied by Chivas Regal. Please RSVP to Club Secretary Silje Rise.

The latest revelations from whistleblower Edward Snowden have further exposed the extent of the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) surveillance. As pressure mounts on Washington and the release of information continues, join us to explore what the files reveal and the consequences of this diplomatic storm. We will be examining the actions of the intelligence services and asking whether they are aligned with protecting national security or as US Secretary of State John Kerry has said, that in some cases their “actions have reached too far”.

Dan Eldon was a 22-year-old photojournalist working in Mogadishu, Somalia, when he was killed in 1993. His mother, Kathy Eldon, heart broken by her son’s death, turned her mind to how she could transform the horror of what happened to him into a positive force for good. She will be joining us to talk about her journey, how she travelled to Somalia to try and understand why her son had been killed and how his life inspired her and her daughter, Amy Eldon Turteltaub, to start the Creative Visions Foundation, to support creative activists who use media and the arts to create social impact.

This is an external event taking place at Riverside Studios. No Fire Zone – The Killing Fields of Sri Lanka, chronicles the final 138 days of the 26-year Sri Lankan civil war, told by the people who lived through it. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Callum Macrae.

Rob Hornstra and Arnold van Bruggen have been working together since 2009 to tell the story of Sochi, Russia, the site of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games. In a talk chaired by BBC Radio Current Affairs presenter Lucy Ash, they will present images from The Sochi Project, speak about the wider Caucasus region and its contrast with the glamour of the Olympic Games. They will also be discussing their approach to self-publishing.

This is an external event taking place at Ritzy Cinema. On 28 October 2012, a government jet dropped a bomb on the village of al-Bara. Only 300 meters away, Olly Lambert was filming a meeting of rebel soldiers. While keeping his camera rolling, Lambert documented the shocking impact of the regime air strike on a civilian population. Taking this intimate personally narrated footage as starting point, Lambert will discuss in depth the experience of filmmaking on the front line.

Israel Ticas is the only criminologist working in one of Latin America’s most dangerous countries, El Salvador. He owes his nickname, “The Engineer”, to his combination of forensic skills and his background in system engineering. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with directors Mathew Charles and Juan Passarelli moderated by Stephen Jukes.

Join us for our next evening of short documentaries, showcasing films from different parts of the world, covering a wide range of topics. This month’s edition is part of a series of Between the Lines Follow-Up Events and will focus on ‘filming the unfilmable’. Followed by a discussion on how to document events that that are difficult to access with French independent multimedia journalist Adrian Branco, canadian filmmaker Jason Lee and director Tim Travers Hawkins.

The Frontline Club Awards return in 2013 and this year we are celebrating our tenth anniversary. The Frontline Club Awards recognise emerging talents and established names for outstanding work, in print, broadcast and photojournalism. Hosted by Jon Snow and supported by Vodafone, Chivas and Canon.

October will mark the tenth year that Mikhail Khodorkovsky has spent behind bars. Once Russia’s richest and most successful businessman, he was arrested and imprisoned a decade ago, on charges that many regard as politically motivated. We will be examining the Khodorkovsky case and, following the charges against Alexei Navalny, we will be looking at the wider issue of imprisonment of opposition figures in Russia.

In April 1989, five black and Hispanic teenagers from Harlem were arrested for the brutal assault and rape of a white woman in Central Park. The Central Park Five gives a detailed reconstruction of the crime and the punishments meted out. Set against the backdrop of a city where incidents of violence are high and divides in class and race are deepening, the film tells a grim story of how law enforcement agencies, social institutions and the media undermined the very rights of the individuals they were designed to safeguard and protect. The screening will be followed by a Q&A via Skype with directors Sarah Burns and David McMahon.

How long is the shadow of a battle, an explosion, a revolution? What stories arise in the wake of devastation? To mark the publication of Granta 125: After the War, two of Britain’s foremost journalists and foreign correspondents discuss the craft, conditions and issues surrounding writing about post-conflict situations.

This is an external event taking place at The Lexi Cinema. Colleague and co-director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary Restrepo, Sebastian Junger thoughtfully portrays Tim Hetherington’s life and work. At a time when greater numbers of journalists are losing their lives covering conflict, the film also addresses the high risks taken by war journalists. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with producer James Brabazon.