Past Events and Screenings

On 18 June Nato handed over security for the whole of Afghanistan to the Afghan government. At the same time in Doha, Qatar, the Taliban opened an office, establishing a political face to the movement. Paddy O’Connell of BBC Radio 4′s Broadcasting House will be hosting a panel of experts to take an in-depth look at what negotiations with the Taliban mean for Afghanistan.

Since Italian NGO Emergency was established in 1994 it has provided free, high quality health care to more than 5,200,000 victims of war, landmines and poverty. It is with great pleasure that we welcome its founder Gino Strada to the Frontline Club, he will be talking to photographer Giles Duley about his life and work as a war surgeon and founder of Emergency.

This is an external event taking place at the ICA: the screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Joshua Oppenheimer.
In this chilling and inventive documentary, produced by Errol Morris and Werner Herzog, the unrepentant former members of Indonesian death squads are challenged to re-enact some of their many murders in the style of the American movies they love.

The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Alex Gibney.
In 2010, WikiLeaks and its sources used the power of the internet to usher in what was for some a new era of transparency, and for others the beginnings of a new information war. In We Steal Secrets: The Story of WikiLeaks, Academy Award winner Alex Gibney explores how this enormous trove of classified US data was leaked and the impact the documents have had on international events.

Following the presidential election in Iran, we will be bringing together a panel of experts to deliberate the results and what they mean for the future of the country. In association with BBC Persian Service, we will be taking an in-depth look at Iran’s new president, Hassan Rouhani, exploring his affiliations and policies at home and internationally.

Hacks/Hackers is a global movement where hacks (journalists) and hackers (developers) meet for talks, demos, hackathons and socials. It started in San Francisco and New York in 2009 and there are now 30 meet-up groups across five continents. The goal of Hacks/Hackers is to create a “network of journalists and technologists who rethink the future of news and information”.

The infamous Frontline Club Quiz, round two with quizmaster and QI Elf Stevyn Colgan. Enter your teams today to compete against the cream of Frontline quizzing talent.

Over 20 years after the collapse of the Soviet Union directors Klára Tasovská and Lukáš Kokeš travel back in time on their visit to the unrecognised Pridnestrovian Moldovian Republic. A separatist region within Moldova with its own passports and stamps, an elected president and a legal system. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Lukáš Kokeš.

Unique, uplifting and heartbreaking, The Network tells the story of Afghanistan’s first independent television network – TOLO TV – and the people behind it. With over 800 Afghans employed producing news, current affairs, drama, comedy, music, and lifestyle programmes, the whole team face their biggest challenge with the impending withdrawal of foreign troops. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Eva Orner.

On 12 January 2010 the deadliest earthquake ever recorded in the Western Hemisphere hit Haiti, claiming between 230,000 and 300,000 lives. We will be joined by a panel of experts from the humanitarian aid community and reporters who covered the earthquake and the subsequent reconstruction efforts, to examine why – after three years and $15.3 billion – the country is still in crisis.

Heading to Sheffield Doc/Fest this year? Not only does the programme contain a fantastic selection of films, everyone with a full festival pass also has access to the diverse and inspiring conference programme. Join Frontline Club founder, Vaughan Smith on Friday 14 June at 2.30 PM at the Crucible Studio, for the panel Surviving Syria: Filmmaking in Extremis.

As Barack Obama enters the second year of his second and final term in office, he faces considerable foreign policy challenges. Join us as we dissect Obama’s foreign policy ambitions, exploring the shifts in focus and how they are playing out. Will he achieve his second term goals? Can he successfully pull focus to Asia or will the conflict in Syria direct attention back to the Middle East?

This event is organised by Middle East Monitor (MEMO).
Book Launch of Memo to the Editor
The author Ibrahim Hewitt, the Middle East Monitor’s senior editor, will be joined by former BBC Middle East Correspondent, Tim Llewellyn and foreign leader writer for the Guardian, David Hearst. They will be discussing media reporting on the Palestine-Israel conflict, looking at key events in the last decade and the way in which they were portrayed by Western media.

Ed Law-Yone, was founder of The Nation newspaper and a major player within the political elite in Burma until the military coup of 1962. He was imprisoned and eventually became an exile in the US where he died in 1980. He did not live to see the Burma he dreamed of but he entrusted his daughter, Wendy Law-Yone, to tell his remarkable story. She will be joining us in conversation with the BBC’s diplomatic correspondent Bridget Kendall to talk about the unique portrait of Burma she discovered in his manuscripts.

The death penalty was re-instated in the United States in 1976, for every ten people that have been executed since then, one person has been released from death row. One for Ten is a crowd-funded series telling the stories of these innocent people. It is made live on the road; shot in one day, edited the next, and uploaded overnight. The screening will be followed by a debate with co-directors Will Francome and Mark Pizzey, and producer Laura Shacham discussing the pros and cons of creating short web-documentaries, online distribution and crowd-funding.

Join fellow Frontline Club members in the club room for social drinks, sponsored by our friends Chivas Regal.

Paul Conroy will be joining us in conversation with international editor at Channel 4 News, Lindsey Hilsum, to talk about Under The Wire. Offering a testimony of war reportage, and a personal account of the final assignment he embarked on with Marie Colvin, one of the foremost journalists of our generation.

On 14 June Iranians will go to to the polls to vote for a president to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but what significance does this election hold? Join us to analyse the approaching election, the main players and what the result will mean for the future of Iran.

Chaabi music used to be the heart and soul of cosmopolitan Algiers, uniting Muslim and Jewish traditions. By the start of the Algerian War of Independence in 1954 the two communities were no longer allowed to work together, the music stopped and friendships were forced apart. Half a century later they got together again for an extraordinary concert and the start of a new musical career. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Safinez Bousbia.

The screening is organised by BBC Persian Service.
Since his election in 2005, Iran’s President Ahmadinejad has become the most well-known Iranian since the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khomeini. Produced by the BBC Persian Service, this documentary looks at the rise of Ahmadinejad and explains how this provincial politician with a PhD in traffic management became a personality to be reckoned with.
Followed by a panel discussion with: Sadeq Saba, head BBC Persian; Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, filmmaker and journalist and Kasra Naji, special correspondent for BBC Persian TV.