News
Beyond the limit: Peter Greste recounts a year in Egyptian prison
By Richard Nield In an emotional and inspiring interview at the Frontline Club on 19 February, little more than two weeks after his release from an Egyptian prison, Australian journalist Peter Greste spoke of his experience of being incarcerated for more than 400 days for nothing more than doing his job as a journalist. Greeted by […]
Libya: “Stuck in a Zero-Sum Game”
By Richard Nield Photo credit: Richard Nield In a week in which Egypt sent F16 jets into Libya in response to the broadcast of an Islamic State video showing the execution of at least a dozen Egyptians, the Frontline Club held a timely event examining the reasons behind Libya’s slide into civil war. The event […]
Peter Greste at the Frontline Club
Peter Greste speaking to Sue Turton at the Frontline Club on 19 February 2015. Photos by Francis Churchill
Me-Mo: Pushing the Limits of Visual Storytelling
By Alexandra Sarabia The plethora of technology now available to communicate different forms of journalism, across a variety of platforms, has allowed journalists more freedom in their storytelling process. This is the driving force behind Me-Mo, a new multimedia magazine created by award-winning freelance photojournalists, Manu Brabo and Fabio Bucciarelli, in partnership with web-developing group, Libre. On […]
Nowhere to Call Home: Prejudice in Tibet and China
On Monday 16 February, the Frontline Club hosted a screening of Jocelyn Ford’s debut film Nowhere to Call Home, which documents the extraordinary battle of Tibetan farmer Zanta as she leaves her mountain village and moves to Beijing to give her son an education.
To Embed or not to Embed? “Mutual Mistrust” Between NGOs and Journalists
By Antonia Roupell Not a seat was free on Tuesday 10 February at the Frontline Club, as a panel of experts convened for a discussion entitled Embedding with Aid Agencies: Editorial Integrity and Security Risks. The ideas of intention and interpretation dominated the evening, with the panel’s arguments and audience comments exposing a relationship of disconnect and simultaneous […]
Democratic Republic of Congo: Stuck in Limbo
By Javier Pérez de la Cruz International coverage of the Democratic Republic of Congo often focuses either on scenes of horror playing out in the eastern parts of the country, or the urban chaos of its capital, Kinshasa. “For me, it was also this whole middle ground of the daily life: a post office worker, a fireman, […]
Boko Haram: Africa’s Islamic State?
By Agnes Chambre The Frontline Club was at full capacity on Wednesday 4 February, as a panel of experts discussed the implications of Boko Haram’s presence in West Africa in the lead up to the Nigerian presidential elections on 14 February. The panel included: Bala Mohammed Liman, a doctoral candidate at SOAS specialising in the intersection […]
Conflict in Ukraine: One Year On
By Graham Lanktree A year since revolution erupted in Ukraine has marked increasingly violent changes inside the country. Yet the transformation remains unfinished and it is uncertain where the conflict and efforts to reform corruption will go next as fighting intensifies across the east of the country. To discuss the future of Ukraine, and whether 2015 […]
Morchidats in Morocco: Advice and Guidance for Young Women
By Ratha Lehall On Friday 30 January, the Frontline Club hosted a screening of Casablanca Calling, which was followed by a Q&A session with director Rosa Rogers and producer Hilary Durman. The documentary focuses on three Morchidat: women who work in schools, prisons, mosques and communities across Morocco to educate the population about the true meaning of […]
The Great European Disaster Movie
By Francis Churchill “We are in an aeroplane, and we don’t know who is driving the aeroplane. We are in a storm and we don’t know what is happening to us…”. This was the idea that Annalisa Piras wanted to entertain in her new film, The Great European Disaster Movie, which previewed at the Frontline Club […]
President Obama’s “Legacy of Absences”
By Robert Van Egghen With the 2015 State of the Union address showing a rejuvenated and confident Barack Obama, a panel of experts met at the Frontline Club on Wednesday 21 January to debate his legacy, the partisan nature of US politics and whether racial divides have been healed by the nation’s first black president.
Mubarak’s Egypt and US interests in the Middle East
By Antonia Roupell The subject of Egypt’s tempestuous recent history was brought to the Frontline Club on Monday 19 January in the form of the documentary film, Mubarak’s Egypt. The screening, which was the English language premier following its broadcast in Arabic on the al Arabiya news channel, was followed by a Q&A with director Charlie […]
Charlie Hebdo attacks: “Blasphemy is a fundamental prerequisite of revolution”
By Richard Nield In a debate at the Frontline Club on 16 January 2015, in the aftermath of the attacks on the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo on 7 January, a panel of expert commentators strongly backed the continued promotion of free speech and warned against responding to the attacks with a curtailment of rights and liberties. Members of the […]
Shorts at the Frontline Club
By Olivia Acland On Friday 16 January, the Frontline Club was at full capacity for an evening that showcased the diverse faces of documentary filmmaking, both journalistic and poetic. The documentaries screened offered snapshots into five very different worlds, allowing the audience to glimpse the lives of remarkable individuals in addition to illuminating pressing issues, […]
UK’s Laws for Foreign Fighters Returning from Syria Need Nuance
By Graham Lanktree At the Frontline Club on 14 January, Shiraz Maher, a senior research fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence (ISCR) at King’s College; Moazzam Begg, a former Guantánamo Bay prisoner turned activist with the UK group Cage; and former MI6 director of global counter-terrorism Richard Barrett, now […]
Gerard Russell on the Disappearing Religions of the Middle East
By Francis Churchill “It’s just useful when we see today the narrative of conflict to remember that it was actually possible for faiths to coexist quite remarkably,” said Gerard Russell, referring to Baghdad in c. 800 C.E. On Tuesday 13 February, the former United Nations and British diplomat joined an audience at the Frontline Club […]
A Dangerous Game: “Democracy has been Corrupted by Individuals with Power”
By Javier Pérez de la Cruz “Wherever you go in the world, democracy has been corrupted by individuals with a lot of power”, said Anthony Baxter by way of an introduction to a screening of his latest film, A Dangerous Game, at the Frontline Club on Monday 12 January. The documentary, which follows on from Baxter’s first international success You’ve Been […]
Peter Greste and colleagues mark one year in prison this Christmas
This Christmas Frontline Club member and journalist, Peter Greste, along with his colleagues Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed will mark one year since they were arrested and imprisoned in Egypt. On 1 January their case will be heard before the Court of Cassation. The court will decide whether or not they have grounds to appeal […]
The Billion Pound Base – Dismantling Camp Bastion
By Agnes Chambre A preview screening of The Billion Pound Base – Dismantling Camp Bastion, followed by a Q&A session with director Richard Parry, producer Leslie Knott and executive producer Mike Lerner, was held at the Frontline Club on Thursday 27 November. The film about Camp Bastian in Afghanistan is reportedly the first of its kind. Although a large number of […]
“Whatever they do, you’re going to have to talk to them”
By Georgia Luscombe On Tuesday 25 November, the Frontline Club hosted Jonathan Powell to discuss the topic of his new book, Talking to Terrorists. Powell was Downing Street chief of staff, during the entire tenure of Tony Blair as Prime Minister and a chief negotiator with Sinn Fein before the Good Friday Agreement. He was interviewed by […]
Hunting for Osama bin Laden
By Robert Van Egghen “How can you have a war on terror when terror is a tactic?” asks one of the American counter-terrorism analysts interviewed in Greg Barker‘s new film, Manhunt, about the decade-long hunt for Osama bin Laden, which was screened at the Frontline Club on Monday 24 November. Director Greg Barker joined the […]
Violence and the traditions of colonialism
By Will Worley A preview screening of Concerning Violence, followed by a discussion with Swedish director Göran Hugo Olsson, was held at the Frontline Club on Friday 21 November. The film is based upon the seminal anti-colonialism book, The Wretched of the Earth, by Frantz Fanon, a Martinique born psychiatrist who became involved with armed anti-colonial […]
Exploring the world between science and journalism
By Will Worley Science and journalism came together on the evening of Thursday 20 November as the Frontline Club launched a new collaboration with the Scientific Exploration Society. Chaired by Vaughan Smith, explorers and journalists discussed their work and the stories they are trying to tell.
How to Freelance Safely – Part Two
By Graham Lanktree As many major news organisations close foreign bureaus, freelancers are called on more and more to cover global conflicts. They face risks often without the structure, training and resources that come with having a large media outlet behind you. Continuing a conversation that began at the end of October in New York at the […]
When a lie masquerades as the truth – questions of documentary filmmaking
By Elliott Goat “Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible.” Janet Malcom, The Journalist and the Murderer Hosting a debate on the role of fiction/nonfiction in documentary storytelling, David Wilson, founder of True/False film festival, chaired a panel of past […]
Talking about Thailand
By Mackenzie Weinger If the event on Wednesday 12 November had taken place in Thailand instead of at the Frontline Club in London, members of the Thailand: A Kingdom in Crisis panel could have been jailed. That’s because panellists broke the Thai lèse majesté law — the crime of violating majesty — by discussing the […]
Quelque part en France: Introducing John G Morris the photographer
By Isabel Gonzalez-Prendergast On Tuesday 11 November, John G Morris, former picture editor for Life magazine, joined guests at the Frontline Club to share his photographs and experiences in Normandy towards the end World War II. Robert Pledge, co-founder of Contact Press Images and editor of Morris‘s book Quelque Part En France, joined his good […]
Ebola – “The solution is how countries are living with it”
By Francis Churchill On Monday 10 November, the Frontline Club hosted a preview screening of Liberia – Living With Ebola, the first episode in Al Jazeera’s latest series of Africa Investigates. The film documented the impact of Ebola on those at the front line of the disease in Liberia, focusing on the communities worst hit […]
Attacking the Devil: Illustrating the best of investigative journalism
By Georgia Luscombe On Friday 7 November, the Frontline Club played host to award-winning journalist Marjorie Wallace and director Jacqui Morris (McCullin, 2012) for a preview screening of Attacking the Devil: Harold Evans and the Last Nazi War Crime, followed by a Q&A. As audience members stirred with sympathy for the victims of the thalidomide […]