Crime
Sea of Shadows
Richard Ladkani’s riveting documentary ventures into the front line of efforts to save the planet’s most endangered sea mammal. When Mexican drug cartels and Chinese traffickers join forces to poach the rare totoaba fish – the “cocaine of the sea” – in the Sea of Cortez, their deadly methods threaten to destroy virtually all marine life in the region, including the most elusive and endangered whale species on earth, the vaquita porpoise.
One Child Nation + Q&A
China’s “one-child” policy lasted from 1979 to 2015. In her latest film, screening at Frontline ahead of its broadcast on BBC Storyville, first-time mother and filmmaker Nanfu Wang uncovers the untold history of the policy and the generations of parents and children forever shaped by this social experiment.
The Outlaw Ocean
There are few remaining frontiers on our planet. But perhaps the wildest, and least understood, are the world’s oceans: too big to police, and under no clear international authority, these immense regions of treacherous water play host to rampant criminality and exploitation. Drawing on five years of perilous and intrepid reporting, often hundreds of miles from shore, investigative journalist Ian Urbina introduces us to the inhabitants of this hidden world.
Kompromat: An Evening with Stanley Johnson and Rachel Johnson
The Frontline Club invites you to a lively evening of discussion between Stanley Johnson and Rachel Johnson, focusing on Stanley’s latest political thriller, Kompromat.
U.S. Under the Lens: Do Not Resist + Q&A
Do Not Resist is an urgent and powerful exploration of the rapid militarisation of the police in the United States. Opening on startling on-the-scene footage in Ferguson, Missouri, the film then broadens its scope to present scenes from across the country. Through keen and thoughtful observances, director Craig Atkinson deftly presents the characters and stories that comprise this pressing issue. The result reveals a rare and surprising look into the increasingly disturbing realities of American police culture.
U.S. Under the Lens: Under the Gun + Panel Discussion
This screening will be followed by a panel discussion with director Stephanie Soechtig and others.
Under the Gun examines the events and people who have kept the U.S. gun debate fierce and the progress slow, even as gun deaths and mass shootings continue to increase. Through the lens of families impacted by the mass shootings in Newtown, Aurora, Isla Vista and Tucson, as well as those who experience daily gun violence in Chicago, the documentary looks at why politicians are finding it difficult to act and what is being done at the state and local levels. The film is executive produced and narrated by Katie Couric and directed by Stephanie Soechtig.
16 Years Till Summer: Redemption in the Scottish Highlands
On 18 March the Frontline Club hosted a screening of the BAFTA-nominated documentary 16 Years Till Summer as part of its New Scottish Documentary season. The screening was followed by a Q&A with director Lou McLoughlan.
New Scottish Documentary Season: 16 Years Till Summer + Q&A
This screening is part of our New Scottish Documentary season and will be followed by a Q&A with director Lou McLoughlan.
Uisdean wants forgiveness. After 16 years in prison, he has returned home to nurse his ageing father in a small village in the Scottish Highlands. But Uisdean also needs to rebuild his life. With the isolation of the Highland landscape both a blessing and curse, he begins the hard graft of reinventing himself. What follows is as much a struggle with tradition and Highland identity as it is with the weight of his own past.
Corruption, Violence and Impunity in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico
By Molly Fleming On Thursday 12 November, award-winning reporter Sandra Rodríguez Nieto spoke with author and journalist for the Observer and the Guardian Ed Vulliamy about life and death in Juarez, the Mexican murder capital of the world.
Screening: Chameleon + Q&A
He’s a household name in Ghana, but few have seen his face. Investigative journalist Anas Aremewaw Anas is on a mission to ferret out corruption in every corner of his country. Despite his notoriety, Anas’ vigilante methods warrant criticism from some local police, who believe his investigations go too far in luring and catching suspected criminals to achieve sensationalist stories.
Screening: Burden of Peace + Q&A
This screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Joey Boink.
Burden of Peace tells the impressive story of Claudia Paz y Paz, the first woman to lead the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Guatemala. Ravaged for years by a devastating civil war, in which nearly 200,000 Mayan Indians were systematically massacred, the country today is one of the most crime-ridden in the world. Paz y Paz starts a frontal attack against corruption, drug gangs and impunity and does what everyone had hitherto held to be impossible: she arrests former dictator Efraín Rios Montt on charges of genocide against the Mayan Indians.
Preview Screening: The Condemned + Q&A
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.
Narco Estado: an advertisement of terror
By Merryn Johnson Teun Voeten’s CV reads like a guide to some of the world’s most dangerous places. “For 25 years I’ve been working [as a photojournalist and anthropologist] and seeing pretty nasty things, to put it diplomatically, in Rwanda, Sierra Leon, Liberia, Congo, but this is savagery and depravity that I have not seen.” […]
Is Silvio losing his grip?
Caught with his polls down, and, many believe, his pants down, the Italian prime minister – due in court in April on sex charges – faces ever-louder howls of outrage and calls to quit. His control of the media and populist touch have seen him through similar crises before, but can he escape this time? […]
Tokyo Vice: Yakuza, murder and crime reporting in Japan
The Japan we know from films and TV is one of tradition, high technology and pop culture. But as with every nation, something more sinister lies beneath the bright lights of Sony and Nintendo. With an expert panel including Jake Adelstein author of Tokyo Vice, we’ll investigate the problem of organised crime in Japan and cast a light on the media’s reporting of it.
