Past Events and Screenings

We see mafias as vast, powerful organisations, harvesting billions of dollars across the globe and wrapping their tentacles around everything from governance to finance. But is this the truth? Travelling from mafia initiation ceremonies in far-flung Russian cities to elite gambling clubs in downtown Macau, Federico Varese sets off in search of answers. Using wiretapped conversations, interviews and previously unpublished police records, he builds up a picture of the real men and women caught up in mafia life, showing their loves and fears, ambitions and disappointments, as well as their crimes.

Trapped in “the world’s largest open-air prison” and ruled by war, a new generation is drawn to the beaches. Sick of occupation and political gridlock, they find their own personal freedom in the waves of the Mediterranean -they are the surfers of Gaza.

The Frontline Club’s regular Kleptoscope evening asks one of the capital’s most pressing political questions: Who Really Owns London? Hosted as usual by investigative journalist Oliver Bullough, the evening will hear the latest research, analysis and insights into the offshore ownership of property, and its use for money laundering and as a store of value. Is the use of London housing as an asset class by the global mega-rich pricing the rest of us out of our own city? And is it even our city anymore? 

It’s been nearly 2 months since the Grenfell Tower fire. In this time, 9 survivors, local residents and volunteers have felt compelled to make a film recording the events to dispel myths and misconceptions surrounding the fire and the people in the community and to provide personal stories of people who have been directly affected by the tragedy.

Daughters of Bangladesh Garment Factory Workers is a moving film featuring and created by the young daughters of women textile workers. Our expert panel of directors, writers and journalists will discuss the challenges and solutions of getting marginalised female voices represented via the medium of storytelling.

What happens if the psychiatric hospital in which you have lived for ten years is bombed and all the staff run away? What is it like to be a twelve-year-old and see all your family killed in front of you? Is it true that almost everyone caught up in a disaster is likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder? Dr Lynne Jones has been a psychiatrist working in conflict zones for over 20 years. From treating soldiers in the Bosnian war, to attending to families affected by the Haitian earthquake, or those who lost relatives in the Sri Lankan tsunami, Dr Jones is coming to the Frontline Club to discuss and share her experiences of working in some of the world’s biggest disaster zones.

Sea of Pictures is a documentary that focuses in on the image of Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi, who was found drowned on a beach in Turkey while trying to reach Europe with his family. This image went viral and became a symbol of the refugee crisis and the widespread international apathy up until that point. His image was seen on newspapers across the globe. But how as a media outlet do you choose which pictures to show to the public? What are the ethics surrounding taking pictures such as these? Can you really control how these pictures are interpreted and repurposed?

‘Goodbye Aleppo’ is a documentary about a team of four young citizen journalists who film themselves and each other as the battle for Aleppo rages around them in December 2016. They show us what daily life is like in the last days of East Aleppo, as the Syrian Army, the Russian and Iran armies, and Iran-backed militias gradually take the city from opposition fighters.

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.