Eastern Europe
No Man’s Land: The Legacy of Communism
By Isabel Gonzalez-Prendergast On Wednesday 24 February, a panel of experts met to discuss the legacy of war and communism in eastern Europe. A full house convened for the event to mark the release of the latest edition of Granta, No Man’s Land, which focuses on the ground between opposing forces, twenty five years since the fall of […]
The End of the Wall: 25 Years After the Fall
By Graham Lanktree The young Harvard-educated economist Miklós Németh didn’t dream he would play a decisive role in the fall of the Berlin Wall when he was appointed Prime Minister by Hungary’s Communist Party to fix the nation’s finances in late 1988. Only a year later he was at the centre of it all. On […]
Fortress – Glimpses into Transnistria
By George Symonds On Wednesday 19 June, the Frontline Club audience burst into spontaneous applause to the precision choreography of a Transnistrian military parade. The footage was part of the documentary film Fortress, shown at the preview screening of Open City Docs Fest, supported by the Czech Centre London as part of One World Echoes in London. […]
Screening: Amazing Azerbaijan! + Q&A
Amazing Azerbaijan! is a tale of two countries: one a shiny democratic republic the government proudly puts on display for visiting journalists and dignitaries. The other country is a repressive and corrupt state with no respect for freedom of expression, in which peaceful protesters are violently beaten and journalists are threatened or even killed. The screening will be followed by a Q&A with director Liz Mermin.
“Why did anybody go along with totalitarianism?” – Insight with Anne Applebaum
By Jim Treadway Free societies crumbled in the decade after World War II, when Stalin took much of Eastern and Central Europe, and in a single-minded fashion, dismantled the existing institutions to build totalitarianism. This period provides the subject for Pulitzer Prize-winning author Anne Applebaum’s latest book Iron Curtain, which she discussed with journalists and columnist for The Times, Oliver Kamm […]
Screening: Ukraine – From Democracy to Chaos + Panel Debate
In Ukraine: From Democracy to Chaos Jill Emery and Jean-Michel Carre explore this complex country, its geopolitical importance in Europe, and its unfinished struggle for democracy.