The Forum Blog
Frame by Frame: Photojournalism in Afghanistan
By Anna Speyart On Tuesday 20 November 2015, the Frontline Club hosted a packed screening of the documentary Frame by Frame, followed by a discussion with filmmakers Alexandria Bombach and Mo Scarpelli. The film follows four Afghan photojournalists who have the challenging task of helping to establish a free and diverse media landscape after years of repressive Taliban […]
The Challenges and Impact of Cross-Border Journalism
By Isabel Gonzalez-Prendergast On Monday 19 October, the Frontline Club was joined by a panel of experts to discuss the increasingly necessary journalism model of cross-border collaboration. Gavin MacFadyen, director of the Centre for Investigative Journalism and visiting professor at City University, moderated the event, which was held in partnership with the Romanian Cultural Centre in […]
Mohamed Fahmy and Amal Clooney: #FreedAJStaff
By Charlotte Beale On Wednesday 7 October, former Al Jazeera English bureau chief Mohamed Fahmy joined a packed audience at the Frontline Club in his first public appearance since his release from a Cairo prison on 23 September. Fahmy was joined in conversation by his lawyer Amal Clooney and BBC chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet. […]
The Red Web: Digital Surveillance in Russia
By Elliot Goat “This is not a phone conversation…” – Soviet saying Introducing his new book The Red Web: The […]
From Damascus to France: A Syrian Love Story
By Francis Churchill The plight of Syrians has returned to the headlines following the recent release of a tragic image of young Aylan Kurdi lying dead in the sand. It is easy to forget that the current situation in Syria, and the millions of refugees who have been forced to flee the country, has its roots in […]
The Changing Face of Myanmar
By Helena Kardova L to R: Richard Cockett, Hkanhpa Sadan, Wai Hnin Pwint Thon, Robert Cooper, Paul French Meanwhile certain regions of Burma are about to learn how to cast a ballot on November 8, ethnic minorities in rural areas are fleeing their homes that are being burnt by the military forces. On Tuesday September 22, a […]
The Look of Silence – Truth and Reconciliation in Indonesia
By Francis Churchill It is estimated that over 500,000 people were slaughtered in Indonesia between October 1965 and the early months of 1966. Paramilitary militias and vigilante groups, coordinated by the Indonesian army and aided by British and American intelligence agencies, were responsible for mass killings in the country’s anti-communist purge. Nearly 50 years […]
How To Change the World: Lessons from Greenpeace
By Antonia Roupell The screening on Monday 14 September at the Frontline Club lived up to its bold name. How to Change The World, directed by Jerry Rothwell, journeys to the beginnings of the environmental movement and organisation, Greenpeace. As heartwarming as it is harrowing, the film is an homage to non-violent activism. From the bomb tests […]
From Our Own Correspondent: The Future of Foreign Reporting
By Olivia Acland On Tuesday 8 September, the Frontline Club opened its doors to some of Britain’s most esteemed journalists for a celebration of sixty years of BBC Radio 4’s From Our Own Correspondent. A panel, chaired by Owen Bennet-Jones, discussed the changing landscape of international news reporting, and reflected on the highlights of FOOC since its beginnings in […]
Cartel Land: Violence and Vigilantism in Mexico
By Ratha Lehall On Friday 4 September, the Frontline Club hosted a screening of Cartel Land, a fearless and revealing documentary that portrays the violent influence of Mexican drug cartels and the vigilante groups fighting to end their reign of terror. The screening was followed by a Q&A with the film’s director Matthew Heineman.
After the Iran Deal
By Dimple Vijaykumar On Wednesday 2 September 2015, the Frontline Club hosted a debate on what the recent Iran nuclear agreement could mean for the country, the region and relations with the West. Just a few hours before the event, it was announced that President Obama had secured enough support in the Senate to ensure […]
Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning
By Helena Kardova Dorothea Lange introduced a tenderness to documentary photography, which has since elevated her images to an iconic status and pushed US citizens to come to terms with darker aspects of their collective history. On Monday 20 July 2015, the Frontline Club hosted a preview screening of the PBS documentary Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning. The […]
Exploitation and Liberation: Chloe Ruthven’s Jungle Sisters
By Francis Churchill The garment manufacturing industry has garnered a reputation for being an exploitative industry. Nonetheless, the Indian government is planning to train 500 million of the country’s rural poor to fill factory jobs in the country’s ever increasing manufacturing sector. Most of this work has been contracted out to private companies who profit from training […]
Marikana: Politics, Power and Platinum
By Amy McConaghy On 16 August 2012, South African police shot and killed 34 striking miners from the Marikana platinum mine owned by Lonmin. They were on strike for a living wage, trapped in a life of desperate poverty. With the Marikana Commission having recently released their report into what happened, the Frontline Club hosted a two-part event […]
Shades of True: Female Perpetrators of the Rwandan Genocide
By Mica Kelmachter On Friday 3 July 2015, the Frontline Club hosted a screening of documentary Shades of True, followed by a discussion with director Alexandre Westphal via Skype. Westphal’s documentary looks at the aftermath of Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, when a million people were murdered over a period of three months.
Under Surveillance: Protecting Journalistic Sources
By Francis Churchill On Tuesday 7 July 2015, the Frontline Club hosted a discussion on the problem of protecting journalistic sources in the age of digital surveillance. Hosting the panel of experts was journalist and president of the Foreign Press Association Paola Totaro. The discussion touched upon issues of the law, journalist’s ethics, state transgression […]
Insight with Samar Yazbek: Return to Syria
By Amy McConaghy In the summer of 2012, writer and journalist Samar Yazbek squeezed through a gap in the fence of the Turkish border and made her way back into the Syrian homeland from which she had been exiled the previous year. On Wednesday 1 July, she joined an audience at the Frontline Club to […]
Mariusz Szczygiel on Gottland and Czech Identity
By Helena Kardova On Monday 29 June 2015, acclaimed Polish writer Mariusz Szczygiel joined an audience at the Frontline Club to introduce the film Gottland and to discuss his book of the same name. Bloomberg News writer Doug Lytle joined the panel for a discussion on Szczygiel‘s ongoing interest in Czech culture.
The True Cost of Corruption
By Alexandra Sarabia On Wednesday 24 May, an audience gathered at the Frontline Club for a discussion on corruption and its far-reaching implications. Sarah Chayes and Tom Burgis joined freelance journalist and host of Newshour on the BBC World Service, Owen Bennett-Jones, to talk about their experiences in Africa, Afghanistan and beyond. Chayes is an expert on kleptocracy, anti-corruption […]
News Reporting: Is Gender a Factor?
By Josie Le Blond There’s no getting round it. Female journalists face exceptional risks when reporting events across the world. Especially as freelancers undertaking assignments alone, women must factor the dangers of gender and sexual violence into their assessments of hostile environments.
They are Us: Mark Aitken’s Dead When I Got Here
By Francis Churchill On Monday 22 June 2015, the Frontline Club screened Mark Aitken’s new film Dead When I Got Here. The film is centred on Josué, a former psychiatric patient who oversees the day to day running of a mental asylum in the Mexican border town of Juárez. Through Josué, Aitken tells the story […]
Those Who Feel the Fire Burning: A Refugee’s Perspective
By George Symonds On Friday 19 June 2015, the Frontline Club held a screening of the genre-defying Those Who Feel the Fire Burning, an experimental film focusing on the experiences of those who risk their lives in order to reach the shores of Europe. The audience was joined by co-producer Katja Draaijer for a discussion following the screening.
Chechnya: A ‘Schizophrenic Land’
By Sara Monetta Twenty years have passed since the beginning of the first Chechen war. How has the country changed in this period and what happened to the many men and women who fought for independence? With this starting point, journalist and filmmaker Manon Loizeau revisited Chechnya, a country where she had previously lived and reported from during the […]
Embedded with the People: Photographs of Afghanistan with Zalmaï
By Francis Churchill On Wednesday 10 June, Afghan-born photographer Zalmaï presented his latest book, Dread and Dreams, to an audience at the Frontline Club. When he returned, after a long hiatus, to Afghanistan as part of the army of press following the US-British invasion, Zalmaï quickly realised that the Western media was not showing the human elements of the conflict. Dread […]
William Dalrymple: The Battle for Afghanistan
By Olivia Acland On Tuesday 2 June, acclaimed writer and historian William Dalrymple joined an audience at the Frontline Club for a fascinating talk on his latest book, Return of a King – The Battle for Afghanistan, in partnership with the London Press Club. The work is the third volume in a series examining the history of […]
Food Chains: The Struggle of Farm Workers in the US
By Ratha Lehall On Wednesday 27 May, the Frontline Club hosted a preview screening of Food Chains, a documentary which gives a revealing insight into the working conditions of farm labourers in the US. The film also follows a campaign against a powerful supermarket chain led by a workers’ movement in Immokalee, Florida. The screening was followed by a Q&A […]
Everyday Rebellion: Inspiring Non-Violent Dissent
By Antonia Roupell The Frontline Club began its June documentary programme on Monday 1 with a retrospective look at various forms of non-violent protests in the cross-media documentary, Everyday Rebellion. The film was directed by the Riahi brothers and Arman Riahi was present for a lively Q&A after the screening.
The Life of an Icon: Regarding Susan Sontag
By Georgia Luscombe Susan Sontag has been regarded by many as an intellectual and literary genius, a feminist hero and a queer icon. She went to college at 15, was married by 17, had a child at 19, gained a Master’s degree from Harvard and a fellowship from Oxford. In her film Regarding Susan Sontag, screened […]
Syria: Failures of the International Community and the Search for Accountability
By Antonia Roupell Nearly three years on from President Obama’s infamous ‘red line’ statement, Syrian activist and filmmaker Orwa Nyrabia, Syrian human rights lawyer Laila Alodaat, journalist Jonathan Littell and Nerma Jelacic of the Commission for International Justice and Accountability (CIJA), joined an audience at the Frontline Club on Thursday 21 May. In a discussion chaired by Owen Bennett-Jones, host of Newshour […]