Handsworth Songs - John Akomfrah (1986)

Black Audio Film Collective, John Akomfrah, Handsworth Songs, 1986, single channel 16mm colour film transferred to video, sound, 58 minutes 33 seconds. © Smoking Dogs Films. Courtesy Lisson Gallery

‘A film essay on race and civil disorder in 1980s Britain and the inner city riots of 1985, Handsworth Songs takes as its point of departure the civil disturbances of September and October 1985 in the Birmingham district of Handsworth and in the urban centres of London. Running throughout the film is the idea that the riots were the outcome of a protracted suppression by British society of black presence. The film portrays civil disorder as an opening onto a secret history of dissatisfaction that is connected to the national drama of industrial decline. Handsworth Songs won Britain’s most prestigious award for Documentaries, the British Film Institute Grierson Award Best Documentary in 1986.’

The film features photography by Vanley Burke and was shot on his bolex camera as discussed in recent guest seminar with us.

The film is a Black Audio Film Collective production. Artists, filmmakers and writers associated with the group include John Akomfrah, Reece Auguiste, Edward George Lina Gopaul, Avril Johnson, David Lawson, Trevor Mathison .

John Akomfrah talks about his practice as a filmmaker, how he navigates between the gallery and cinema, what compelled him to make his 2015 work Vertigo Sea,...

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All Tomorrow's Parties (2009)

‘A kaleidoscopic journey into the parallel musical universe of cult music festival All Tomorrow's Parties.’ IMDB

‘All Tomorrow's Parties is a 2009 documentary film directed by All Tomorrow's People and Jonathan Caouette covering the history of the long running All Tomorrow's Parties music festival. Described as a "post-punk DIY bricolage", the film was created using footage generated by the fans and musicians attending the events themselves, on a multitude of formats including Super8, camcorder and mobile phone. All Tomorrow's People is a name representing the contributions of these attendees.

The film features music and performances from Belle And Sebastian, Grizzly Bear, Sonic Youth, Battles, Boards of Canada, Portishead, Daniel Johnston, Grinderman, Lightning Bolt, David Cross, Animal Collective, The Boredoms, Les Savy Fav, Mogwai, Octopus Project, Slint, Dirty Three, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, the Gossip, GZA, Roscoe Mitchell, Seasick Steve, Iggy and the Stooges, A Hawk and a Hacksaw, Fuck Buttons, Micah P Hinson, Two Gallants, The Mars Volta, Akron/Family, Jah Shaka, Saul Williams, Shellac, Patti Smith and John Cooper Clarke. ‘ Wiki

a documentary about the All Tomorrow's Parties festival held yearly in England. features interviews and performances by Animal Collective, Grinderman, Battles, Belle and Sebastian, Dirty Three, comedian David Cross, and more

Tarnation (2003) Director: Jonathan Caouette

‘Filmmaker Jonathan Caouette's documentary on growing up with his schizophrenic mother -- a mixture of snapshots, Super-8 film, answering machine messages, video diaries, early short films, and more - culled from nineteen years of his life.’ IMDB

I for India - Sandhya Suri (2005)

‘The myth of return. In 1966, Yash and Sheel Suri leave India for a temporary stay in England while he burnishes his resume as a doctor. He buys projectors, tape recorders, and movie cameras, and sends one set to India beginning a 40-year exchange of tapes and Super 8 movies between his family in India and his household near Manchester. We watch their three daughters grow and we hear increasingly plaintive calls from Yash's parents and sister to return home. In 1982, it's back to India where Yash sets up a practice. A return to England, one daughter's marriage, another's move to Australia, and the third's film project complete the 40-year story. Yash still loves his homeland.’ IMDB

Director: Sandhya Suri

A chronicle of immigration, from the Sixties to the present day, as seen through the eyes of one Asian family and their 40 years worth of Super 8mm home movies.

Cameraperson

Directed By: Kirsten Johnson Cameraperson Official Trailer 1 (2016) - Documentary Exposing her role behind the camera, Kirsten Johnson reaches into the vast trove of footage she has shot over decades around the world. What emerges is a visually bold memoir and a revelatory interrogation of the power of the camera.

Interviews

"I don't see a clear line around a situation which you do or don't use things. I think it's always a question of sort of who is choosing to tell it and for what purpose."

Cobain: Montage of Heck

Hailed as one of the most innovative and intimate documentaries of all time experience Kurt Cobain like never before in the only ever fully authorized portrait of the famed music icon. Academy Award® nominated filmmaker Brett Morgen expertly blends Cobain’s personal archive of art, music, never seen before movies, animation and revelatory interviews from his family and closest friends. Wildly creative and highly acclaimed, follow Kurt from his earliest years in this visceral and detailed cinematic insight of an artist at odds with his surroundings. Fans and those of the Nirvana generation will learn things about Cobain they never knew while those who have recently discovered the man and his music will know what makes him the lasting icon that he still is today

MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A.

Drawn from a never-before-seen cache of personal footage spanning decades, MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A. is an intimate portrait of the Sri Lankan artist and musician who continues to shatter conventions. https://www.instagram.com/miadocumentary https://www.facebook.com/MIAdocumentary https://twitter.com/MIAdocumentary

A Woman's Epic Journey to Climb 7 Mountains—Shot on a Phone | Short Film Showcase

‘National Geographic Emerging Explorer and Adventurer of the Year Wasfia Nazreen doesn't just climb for the thrill; she climbs for a cause. The first Bangladeshi to scale the Seven Summits, Wasfia has made it her purpose to brave these climbs for the sake of something larger - for the women of Bangladesh. Lyrical and poetic, this short documentary, shot entirely on an iPhone 6S, is a reflective character portrait that takes us from the depths of Wasfia's struggles to the highest peaks on the planet, as we explore what it means to pursue the unknown.’
Read more about Emerging Explorer Wasfia Nazreen
About Short Film Showcase: A curated collection of the most captivating documentary shorts from filmmakers around the world. Know of a great short film that should be part of our Showcase? Email sfs@natgeo.com to submit a video for consideration. See more from National Geographic's Short Film Showcase at http://documentary.com

Adam Curtis - Bitter Lake

'Politicians used to have the confidence to tell us stories that made sense of the chaos of world events. But now there are no big stories and politicians react randomly to every new crisis - leaving us bewildered and disorientated.

Bitter Lake is an adventurous and epic film by Adam Curtis that explains why the big stories that politicians tell us have become so simplified that we can’t really see the world any longer.

The narrative goes all over the world, America, Britain, Russia and Saudi Arabia - but the country at the heart of it is Afghanistan. Because Afghanistan is the place that has confronted our politicians with the terrible truth - that they cannot understand what is going on any longer.

The film reveals the forces that over the past thirty years rose up and undermined the confidence of politics to understand the world. And it shows the strange, dark role that Saudi Arabia has played in this.

But Bitter Lake is also experimental. Curtis has taken the unedited rushes of everything that the BBC has ever shot in Afghanistan - and used them in new and radical ways.

He has tried to build a different and more emotional way of depicting what really happened in Afghanistan. A counterpoint to the thin, narrow and increasingly destructive stories told by those in power today.'

Adam Curtis - Hyper Normalisation

'We live in a time of great uncertainty and confusion. Events keep happening that seem inexplicable and out of control. Donald Trump, Brexit, the War in Syria, the endless migrant crisis, random bomb attacks. And those who are supposed to be in power are paralysed - they have no idea what to do.

This film is the epic story of how we got to this strange place. It explains not only why these chaotic events are happening - but also why we, and our politicians, cannot understand them.

It shows that what has happened is that all of us in the West - not just the politicians and the journalists and the experts, but we ourselves - have retreated into a simplified, and often completely fake version of the world. But because it is all around us we accept it as normal.

But there is another world outside. Forces that politicians tried to forget and bury forty years ago - that then festered and mutated - but which are now turning on us with a vengeful fury. Piercing though the wall of our fake world.'

Taxi Tehran (2015) - Jafar Panahi

Jafar Pahani's new film "Taxi Tehran" is showing at The Cube Microplex, Bristol. Next Week. Tuesday's screening (Ticket Tout Tuesday) 24th November 2015, at 8pm is only £3! too. 
Also see:

The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz

The Internet's Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz

 

• When Thu 19 Nov 2015
• Time 10:30
• Where Curzon Community Cinema, 46-48 Old Church Road, Clevedon, N. Somerset, BS216NN

This saddening and eye-opening documentary is a portrait of Aaron Swartz – a brilliantly gifted thinker and internet information freedom activist who challenged the power of corporate interests and the state before ending his life at the age of 26 after being charged with fraud for downloading millions of journal articles from a subscription-only online service. Unapologetically partial, the film combines home movie footage of Swartz in his youth with interviews with his friends and family, and experts such as World Wide Web inventor Tim Berners-Lee who question the motives of the prosecutors and a pursuit of Swartz that many feel was unwarranted or at best grossly disproportionate.

Director: Brian Knappenberger

Year2014

Country of productionUSA

GenreCrime, Documentary - General

LanguageEnglish

Film duration105 mins

HE NAMED ME MALALA

This film looks an amazing portrait of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai and her fight for education for all girls worldwide

http://www.henamedmemalalamovie.com/

HE NAMED ME MALALA is an intimate portrait of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Malala Yousafzai, who was targeted by the Taliban and severely wounded by a gunshot when returning home on her school bus in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The then 15-year-old was singled out, along with her father, for advocating for girls’ education, and the attack on her sparked an outcry from supporters around the world. She miraculously survived and is now a leading campaigner for girls’ education globally as co-founder of the Malala Fund.

Acclaimed documentary filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth, Waiting for Superman) shows us how Malala, her father Zia and her family are committed to fighting for education for all girls worldwide. The film gives us an inside glimpse into this extraordinary young girl’s life – from her close relationship with her father who inspired her love for education, to her impassioned speeches at the UN, to her everyday life with her parents and brothers.

"One child, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world."
– Malala
 

The film is currently showing at Cineworld in Hengrove, Bristol.

https://film.list.co.uk/cinema/42877-cineworld-bristol/

go?: Thursday 19/11/2015 14:30
 

THE SCORE Dir. Michael Grigsby 1999

A football short film by doc film maker Michael Grigsby about a football match - Sheffield vs

One Giant Leap

This album released in 2002 still holds relevant to our society today. Watch Part 2 here: http://youtu.be/5RBjdyfgQVM 1 Giant Leap is the self-titled debut album by UK duo Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman under the name 1 Giant Leap.

This album released in 2002 still holds relevant to our society today. Watch Part 1 here : http://youtu.be/l9fnoOtigzE 1 Giant Leap is the self-titled debut album by UK duo Jamie Catto and Duncan Bridgeman under the name 1 Giant Leap.