Past Events and Screenings

Join us for the screening ‘Freelancer on the Frontlines’ which follows the life and work of journalist Jesse Rosenfeld, followed by a Q&A with Jesse himself.
Canadian freelance reporter Jesse Rosenfeld has made the Middle East the focus of his work, and to make a living he has to keep up with constantly moving news targets. Freelancer on the Front Lines follows his journey across the region, showing us thorny geopolitical realities shaped by the events transforming the Middle East and exploring how journalism practices have changed in the age of the internet.

The recent call for the closure of Al Jazeera has been a wake up call for the world of journalism. With one of the largest Arab journalistic voices under threat, join us for a panel discussion on the recent events in Qatar, the wider consequences for the future of journalism on a global scale and the controversies around the network. We will be LIVE STREAMING this event on our Facebook page.

What is necropolitics, or the ‘politics of death’? Join our film screening and panel discussion on a new pattern that is emerging across the globe as more and more people are dying protecting their land and homes from the global industry’s incessant thirst for natural resources.

The Spider’s Web’ is a documentary film that shows how Britain transformed from a colonial power into a global financial power. With a Q&A post-screening from the directors, find out how the City of London became the global leader in creating obscure, corrupt, secret offshore tax havens.

Join us in celebration of International Pride Month with a screening of 2 short films around transgender issues followed by a Q&A with both directors, Andy Hayward and Olivia Crellin

Perhaps a trillion dollars are stolen every year by the rulers of the world’s poorest countries. Hundreds of billions of those dollars find their way into the West, where they buy real estate, luxury goods, fine art, yachts and more. Less than a cent from every stolen dollar is ever returned to the peoples of the countries where the money was stolen. Kleptoscope 5 looks at this under-acknowledged economic catastrophe, and asks why it is so hard to recover assets stolen by kleptocrats. And what role does London play as both a safe haven for looted money, and a laundering centre for money being invested elsewhere?

Join us for a discussion of Giles Duley’s most recent photography work from Erbil, Iraq. He will be joined by Emergency UK’s Dr Armour-Marshall who has just returned from the frontline.

While travelling to investigate human rights abuses in Darfur, journalists Phil Cox and Daoud Hari were kidnapped and endured 40 days imprisonment and torture in cage cells in Khartoum. Following concerted diplomatic intervention by the UK and US governments, Hari was released on 18 January 2017, followed by Cox’s release on 1 February 2017. This compelling documentary comprises footage shot during their captivity that was smuggled out of the country.

The UK’s separation from the EU means separation from the European Court of Justice, and may presage leaving the European Court of Human Rights as well. Will significant sections of the UK press continue to argue for the scrapping of the Human Rights Act post-Brexit, or will they recognise that Article 10 provides numerous safeguards for responsible journalism and thus protects press freedom? We will be joined by journalists, human rights law experts and media analysts to discuss the role journalism will play as the Brexit leads human rights in the UK into an uncertain future.

Subtitled, ‘A Riot of Free Speech’, Byline is Britain’s first ever festival of journalism. There will be a mix of comedy, music, workshops, screenings, activism and debate. A gaggle of the great and the very-funny: John Cleese, Martin Bell, The Blow Monkeys, Luke Harding, Lenny Henry, Tom Holland, Hugh Grant, Jack Monroe and plenty of other people and bands you admire and love, all in one forest clearing.

Over the last twelve years, as Mexico has become the epicentre of the international drug trade, more than one hundred journalists, a generation of writers, has been killed or disappeared. The Sorrows of Mexico is a collection of essays from the leading writer-journalists of Mexico, each one concentrating on a single issue among the many which afflict their country. We will be joined by two of the book’s contributors, Anabel Hernandez and Lydia Cacho, who will discuss their experiences as female journalists working in one of the most hostile environments for human rights reporting.

The Frontline Club is pleased to welcome the 7th Laureate of the Carmignac Photojournalism Award, Mexican photographer Narciso Contreras, for a discussion on his recent work in Libya. Contreras travelled through the complex tribal society of post-Gaddafi Libya from February to June 2016, photographing the brutal reality of human trafficking.

We are very happy to be joined by celebrated photographer Guillaume Bonn to discuss his new book The Mosquito Coast: Travels from Maputo to Mogadishu in conversation with journalist Jon Lee Anderson. Born in Madagascar, Bonn seeks out and preserve a legacy of the past in East Africa. He has called the eastern African coast the Mosquito Coast, because of the malarial curse shared shared by the four countries—Mozambique, Tanzania, Kenya, and Somalia—whose coastlines he has documented.

The election of President Donald Trump has raised tensions between the US and Iran just as an intense power struggle plays out ahead of Iran’s presidential election in May. Ahead of the election we will reflect on Iran under President Rouhani and where the country’s international relations are headed.

In the backdrop of Turkey’s April referendum, escalating tensions between Turkey and major European powers has signalled a new era of hostile relations. President Erdogan’s bid to radically remodel the parliamentary system in Turkey has led to opposition groups fearing the creation of one-man rule. The Turkish government, which has been carrying out brutal crackdowns on political dissenters following the failed coup last year, is now looking toward European countries as a stage to strengthen its agenda. Our panel will reflect on President Erdogan’s fraught relationship with the EU in the context of the country’s political future after the April referendum.

It is the news media’s major preoccupation – how can journalists best serve audiences in a world riddled with misinformation and ‘alternative facts’, and when the President of the United States makes baseless claims and labels accurate reporting as “fake news”? We will discuss how journalists new to these challenges learn from reporters elsewhere in the world who contend daily with misinformation and state hostility. This event, held to mark World Press Freedom Day 2017, will bring together journalists from a selection of countries to discuss these issues and explain how they are dealing with the “post-truth” environment.

A monthly social evening for journalists and others in the London media world. The London Press Club, which has been bringing the industry together since 1882, has resurrected the tradition of regular drinks, on the back of popular demand. The Frontline Club hosts the evening on the first Tuesday of each month. No entrance fee is required and there is a pay bar.

We are delighted to present a screening of Five Broken Cameras, followed by a Q&A with director Emad Burnat. Since its release in 2011, Five Broken Cameras has received more than 40 awards worldwide and was nominated to the 85th Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary. Filmed from the perspective of Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat, 5 Broken Cameras was shot using six different video cameras – five of which were destroyed in the process of documenting Emad’s family’s life as well as Palestinian and International resistance to Israeli appropriation of land and occupation.

In her groundbreaking new book No Friends But the Mountains, veteran war correspondent Judith Matloff describes her journeys to remote mountain communities across the globe — from Albania and Chechnya to Nepal and Colombia — to investigate why so many conflicts occur at great heights. Matloff will join us in conversation with journalist Nawal al-Maghafi to discuss the links between geography and conflict, and reflect on her discoveries from the world’s most remote regions.

The Hetherington family and the Tim Hetherington Trust invite friends, colleagues and everyone interested in Tim’s extraordinary life to spend an evening at The Frontline Club exploring his dynamic legacy through the work of artists and journalists who continue to expand his innovative approach to visual media. The evening will introduce new work by some familiar friends, as well as some hitherto unknown voices who are bringing fresh energy to today’s media.